Welcome to Incredible India.

Sitting, in the sweaty, congested heat in my $8 (for two) hotel in the middle of one of the grimiest, dirtiest, grubbiest parts of India and probably the world - Paharganj, New Delhi...it seems suitable that I should not have the most exciting things to say about my first few days in India. Instead I am finding it difficult to string together the right words to describe how utterly fantastic it is to be in the centre of all the chaos. 

On arrival into Delhi international airport and taking the advice of a very helpful 'air host, steward...' we stepped off our 2 hour late plane into sweltering heat to prepay for a taxi into Paharganj, where we planned on looking for a hotel, backpackers, guest house..anything that really fit the bill. We eventually arrived at the Main bazaar by taking a detour up the wrong side of the road directly into oncoming traffic. Whilst Shelly and I braced ourselves and begged for our lives, the driver laughed hysterically. We were soon to discover that road rules are non-existent in India, there is simply chaos and every man, bus, car, tuk-tuk, bicycle, cow, truck. dog and rickshaw for themselves. We piled out of the taxi and with our backpacks on our back(and front) set out on foot in search of a place to stay. This turned out to be very interesting as every second person trying to "Practice their English" tried to direct us in to their hotels. The rain also started and this was mostly unpleasant because of all the construction going on in preparation for the Common Wealth games coming to Delhi in October. Inadvertently this means that the roads are just a big sludgy mess of mud and grime., rocks, sand, bricks and more chaos. 

We stumbled luckily upon the hotel that Jonathan had already booked into and on our first step into the air-conditioned bliss, we decided on the place for the night. It was expensive ($40 for the 2 of us!) but after a long few days we couldn't resist the perfectly clean bed and a good dependable shower. We would continue the search for more budgetable accomodation in the morning after a long nights sleep. Jonathan arrived soon after us and we set out on foot to explore the area. We took a tuk-tuk to the famous Connaught Place looking for some food and a good walk. We found a sweet restaurant called "Piccadelhi" and ate our first Paneer Masalas, absolutely delicious.  We spent the rest of the evening walking back to Paharganj and going in and out of hotels to check the rooms and prices. We eventually settled on $8 for a double room at 'HOTEL SILVER SHINE.' The staff were friendly and the room was ok, nothing that our own sheet and pillow case couldn't fix.

After a lovely nights sleep, we woke up for breakfast and spent the morning relaxing and getting our lives in order - ie throwing out anything we deemed unnecessary from our backpacks.  We spent the afternoon walking around the rest of the area. We tried to take a tuk-tuk to the 'Government Tourist office' to get maps and ideas of trains and itinerary. We were taken to a small room, compartmentalized into 3, given a poster that said 'Incredible India' and almost conned into booking unnecessary trains and taxis. We realized that they were not the official government office only when they could not give us a business card or address. We walked another 20 metres down the street and low and behold, the biggest most official building with the biggest most official sign saying "Government of India, Tourist information centre. 88 JanPath Avenue." At least we found it in the end, no harm done. We found a gorgeous restaurant on the Outer Circle of Connaught Place and had curry, naan and some 'Happy Hour' Mojitos. We wandered through the shops, in and out of broken down structures, avoided hotel and tourism touts and finally checked into our new hotel. After a shower, getting our beds ready and washing some clothes we thought we would be pretty exhausted. By 2am, however, we were still awake tossing and turning and unable to fall asleep. We finally dozed off sometime after that only to be woken up at 5am by construction workers loading up 3 trucks directly below our room. deciding to make the most of our early rise we hauled ourselves out of bed and up to the rooftop garden where we thought we would watch the sunrise. No such luck, as we panted up 8 flights of stairs, we heard the rain. It was only drizzling, but sadly no chance of a sunrise worth watching. We spent the day driving in Tuk-Tuks with different drivers going from one side of the city to the next in search of a supermarket. It was such a beautiful way to see the city. We drove past antique and marble markets, the India gate, the Common Wealth Games Stadium, the Sikh Temple and a couple of shopping centres. We eventually made it back to Paharganj alive in need of a good dinner and an even better cocktail. After a few double tequila shots, delicious Indian Kebabs, a very friendly waitor and the arrival of three lovely Danish Girls, the night just got better at the beautiful rooftop restaurant on a perfect cloudless night. We stumbled back through the deserted streets dodging a large herd of cows along the way. We woke up early once again and met the girls for breakfast on another rooftop restaurant (it seems these places are the fashion in Paharganj!), we walked all around New Delhi for most of the day, took refuge in a Mcdonalds waiting for the monsoon to pass, walked back through a couple of markets, sat on a stool in the middle of a crowded street and got a henna tattoo, organised an Indian Sim card and figured out the New Delhi Train Station. We ended off the night sitting on ANOTHER (yes you guessed it!) rooftop Garden, with a Big Bottle of Water and some relaxed conversation.

The thing that has already made me fall in love with India is that even in all the crowds, poverty, dirt and chaos the people you see and interact with on the streets are still lively and full of color, still happy to be alive and still fighting for another day and another chance, putting their utmost into what they do and trying to make the absolute best of their situations. Yes, the poverty we have seen just being here for four days has been excruciating and every time you look around you, you wish you could do more.  But beyond that, beyond the dirt and the sludge and the mosquitoes and the frenzy about drinking unsanitary water, is a beautiful culture full of loud and wonderful expression, love and humor. Each person you meet has a smile on their face that lights up even more if you offer them a smile back. 

Kate and Jessie arrive from Korea tomorrow night! and then our adventuring and exploring reeaaaaaaaaally begins! We are planning on heading to Agra on Wednesday morning and then winging it once again from the Taj. :)

So that is India, for now..and I love it.

Lots of love to everyone reading xoxoxox