God, I love the sweet taste of India
It is amazing how much happens here in such little time. Time often goes alot slower here, and the people are never in much of a rush.
As soon as we stepped of the plane you could taste the difference in the air, much warmer, and way more humid than in Calgary, but it also has a certain sweetness to it. As soon as we left the arrivals area in the airport we were swarmed with people yelling "hello gentleman, cheapest taxi here!" This was just our first taste of the eager buisness men in India. The ride to the hotel was awe inspiring, I was blown away by the many different types of trees everywhere, and how different they are. There is people absolutely everywhere, running across the street, chillin' in the middle of highways, laying under trees, you name it. We were approached by beggars at a few stop lights, but I didn't want to give them money since I was new to this whole thing and didnt want to give our drivers the wrong impression.
When we approached the area ourhotel was in (Paharganj) the driver stopped and the man in the passenger seat told us we needed to go inside the office to confirm our hotel. He asked for our passports and pretended to be very offical about it all. He proceeded to tell us that we needed a verification code to go the hotel, but since we didn't have one that he would call them for us to sort things out... but the hotel line was "busy". He then dailed the "operator" and got ahold of our hotel, he then gave the phone to Dominique and somebody on the other line played stupid and said we weren't verified (this is a common scam in India). I was trying to reason with the man, some part of me always trusts in others. But Dominique instantly stood up and walked to the door, she told him he was lying and that she knows we have a room. After some bickering we left the office and the driver took us another 2 blocks to the Bazaar our hotel was on. A friendly man in the streets helped us find our hotel, where sure enough, we did not need a verification number. We were greeted with higher than quoted prices for rooms, but a room none the less.
The streets of Delhi are a big, blurry dance of tuk tuks, nice modern cars, cows, street dogs, and many, many pedistrians running in and out, dancing around a collection of obstacles such as uneven roads, massive potholes, puddles of slim, and more cows. Our first morning in Delhi it was raining very hard, we set out to find a cafe to do a blog entry but on our way we made friends with a man who offered us his umbrella. He was so exicted that we were from Canada, as his brother lived in Quebec. He told us he knew where the best place to get train tickets was, (at the government office) and that all the private shops are often overpriced or scams. We walked with him for about 10 minutes, balancing on curbs, hopping over nastly puddles and dodging traffic, until we reached the tourist office. We asked for a train ticket to Jaipur but all that was available was a first class ticket 6 days from then, which was too long to wait and too much to pay. We ended up striking a deal with the tour agent to hire a driver to take us around the province of Rajastan (stan meaning the land of, Raja meaning King[s]) for about two weeks. The deal included all our car related expensies, hotel rooms, acess to some sites, basicaly everything but food. So here we are, traveling with our driver and new friend Pavneer Kumar around the desert land of kings.
As soon as we stepped of the plane you could taste the difference in the air, much warmer, and way more humid than in Calgary, but it also has a certain sweetness to it. As soon as we left the arrivals area in the airport we were swarmed with people yelling "hello gentleman, cheapest taxi here!" This was just our first taste of the eager buisness men in India. The ride to the hotel was awe inspiring, I was blown away by the many different types of trees everywhere, and how different they are. There is people absolutely everywhere, running across the street, chillin' in the middle of highways, laying under trees, you name it. We were approached by beggars at a few stop lights, but I didn't want to give them money since I was new to this whole thing and didnt want to give our drivers the wrong impression.
When we approached the area ourhotel was in (Paharganj) the driver stopped and the man in the passenger seat told us we needed to go inside the office to confirm our hotel. He asked for our passports and pretended to be very offical about it all. He proceeded to tell us that we needed a verification code to go the hotel, but since we didn't have one that he would call them for us to sort things out... but the hotel line was "busy". He then dailed the "operator" and got ahold of our hotel, he then gave the phone to Dominique and somebody on the other line played stupid and said we weren't verified (this is a common scam in India). I was trying to reason with the man, some part of me always trusts in others. But Dominique instantly stood up and walked to the door, she told him he was lying and that she knows we have a room. After some bickering we left the office and the driver took us another 2 blocks to the Bazaar our hotel was on. A friendly man in the streets helped us find our hotel, where sure enough, we did not need a verification number. We were greeted with higher than quoted prices for rooms, but a room none the less.
The streets of Delhi are a big, blurry dance of tuk tuks, nice modern cars, cows, street dogs, and many, many pedistrians running in and out, dancing around a collection of obstacles such as uneven roads, massive potholes, puddles of slim, and more cows. Our first morning in Delhi it was raining very hard, we set out to find a cafe to do a blog entry but on our way we made friends with a man who offered us his umbrella. He was so exicted that we were from Canada, as his brother lived in Quebec. He told us he knew where the best place to get train tickets was, (at the government office) and that all the private shops are often overpriced or scams. We walked with him for about 10 minutes, balancing on curbs, hopping over nastly puddles and dodging traffic, until we reached the tourist office. We asked for a train ticket to Jaipur but all that was available was a first class ticket 6 days from then, which was too long to wait and too much to pay. We ended up striking a deal with the tour agent to hire a driver to take us around the province of Rajastan (stan meaning the land of, Raja meaning King[s]) for about two weeks. The deal included all our car related expensies, hotel rooms, acess to some sites, basicaly everything but food. So here we are, traveling with our driver and new friend Pavneer Kumar around the desert land of kings.
posted by facing the wind at 3:26 a.m.
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