India!!!

It's hard to believe I've been in India for almost a month already! Gina and I arrived in Delhi on March 1st and the first few days lasted FOREVER! But now time is flying by and tomorrow we leave for Nepal. Before I get too far ahead of myself, let me try to get caught up on my India experiences. It's been a rollercoaster to say the least - a lot of bad times mixed in with the good times, but if anything, it hasn't been boring. My first words of advice: Do not make Delhi your first destination in India. It is so crowded, filthy and chalk full of scammers, not to mention extremely noisy; Cars and rickshaws fill the air with non-stop honking. And you can't walk down the street, even small side roads, without having to dodge cows and motorists. Needless to say, Delhi was overwhelming and we wondered what the heck we'd gotten ourselves into. Luckily, we had scheduled a taxi to pick us up from the airport. (Although his matchbox-sized "taxi" and his crazy driving were a bit unexpected.)

Suddenly, we turned down a dark street with old crummy buildings and garbage scattered everywhere. People and bikes weren't the only thing clogging the way......watch out for the cows and bulls!! They were just laying and wandering at their leisure. Then the car stops.......this is where we're staying?!? Hotel Namaskar.....the top rated budget hostel/hotel in Delhi. (I guess for 6 bucks a night you can't be picky.) And as you can see, security was top notch!

Day Two - Monday 3/2

Let's just say we weren't feeling too confident about our decision to come to India after the events of the morning. Our hotel was close to the train station so we thought we'd wander over, find the subway, and get around to a few places on our own. It was insanity on the streets: ...so many people trying to talk to you to get you to buy something, go to their supposed 'travel tour' office, or ride their rickshaws (a bike with a two-seater on back, sometimes motorized.) To make a long story short, we made it into the train station after dodging a fake government employee trying to point us in the wrong direction. A layer of dirt and dust covered the hallway floor and stairwell up to the nearly vacant second floor. But we found the tourist 'refreshment area' and got safe bottled water. It was here where we decided we were in not mood to find our own way around Delhi; we were going to take the advice of the hotel owner and book one of his private cars to go sightseeing in Delhi as well as a 14 day tour of Rajashstan (a North Western state with many cities with lots of sights to see.)