India and my hacking cough
I arrived in India after 39 hours of flying on various planes. The trip was good overall but it reminded me of how uncomfortable sleeping upright is...and that being drunk while sleeping upright is a bad idea. By far the best airport so far has been the one in Singapore. Encounters at the L.A. airport is hard to beat with it's UFO theme and elevator music but I appreciate free internet and massage chairs that recline fully much more.
India is an attack on the senses. All of them. First off there is a perpetual haze that blankets New Delhi. You can taste the air here. It leaves a film on the back of your throat as you breath it in. I have developed a bit of a hacking cough because of the smog. It's hard to take a deep breath. To add to the smog people on the street start fires to keep warm at night. Delhi smells like it is burning down in the evenings.
In my two days here I have escaped death at least a dozen times every day... and I think that last taxi driver took me on a bit of a ride charging me 80 rupees to get to Defense Colony (that's about 2 Canadian dollars). Traffic lanes mean absolutely nothing and instead of checking their blindspot auto-taxi drivers use the horn to warn people that you are about to squeeze between two very large trucks to make the green light. I'm a bit of a backseat driver but that habit had to go fast once I got into my first cab.
The first night in Delhi we took off dancing to the Orange Room. Indian men looooove to dance and aren't afraid to show it. Hasina, Pavan and I met up with three other guys that they had met the previous weekend. The really 'hot' guy turned out to be only hot in the dark. Out in the light he was okay but once inside the club the dim light hit his features just so and made him irresistible. Pavan and Hasina had to drag me off the dance floor at 3am.
We had an absolutely yummy brunch at Olive the following day. The place had an open courtyard and an all you can eat oyster bar, prawn grill, wood-oven baked pizza station and delectable items at the buffet such as saffron & honey yogurt, broccoli pate and tomato & jasmine tea soup to name a few.
I noticed on our way to Olive that Delhi is not a walkable city. Taxis and buses are absolutely necessary to get from A to B. Buses are out of the question for me because most of the passangers (we are talking 99%) are male and apparently most bus drivers buy their licenses, meaning they have loads of accidents.
The last few evenings have been quiet. The jetlag has taken me out of commission for the most part. Tonight it's off to the Bahai Temple which is shaped like an unfurling white lotus and floodlit in the dark making it a spectacular sight by all accounts.
Hasina took off for a conference in Jaipur today and I will join her for four days. I am off to catch a train to Jaipur at 6am tomorrow.
Some of my Delhi pictures are below (past the last day in Toronto post).
India is an attack on the senses. All of them. First off there is a perpetual haze that blankets New Delhi. You can taste the air here. It leaves a film on the back of your throat as you breath it in. I have developed a bit of a hacking cough because of the smog. It's hard to take a deep breath. To add to the smog people on the street start fires to keep warm at night. Delhi smells like it is burning down in the evenings.
In my two days here I have escaped death at least a dozen times every day... and I think that last taxi driver took me on a bit of a ride charging me 80 rupees to get to Defense Colony (that's about 2 Canadian dollars). Traffic lanes mean absolutely nothing and instead of checking their blindspot auto-taxi drivers use the horn to warn people that you are about to squeeze between two very large trucks to make the green light. I'm a bit of a backseat driver but that habit had to go fast once I got into my first cab.
The first night in Delhi we took off dancing to the Orange Room. Indian men looooove to dance and aren't afraid to show it. Hasina, Pavan and I met up with three other guys that they had met the previous weekend. The really 'hot' guy turned out to be only hot in the dark. Out in the light he was okay but once inside the club the dim light hit his features just so and made him irresistible. Pavan and Hasina had to drag me off the dance floor at 3am.
We had an absolutely yummy brunch at Olive the following day. The place had an open courtyard and an all you can eat oyster bar, prawn grill, wood-oven baked pizza station and delectable items at the buffet such as saffron & honey yogurt, broccoli pate and tomato & jasmine tea soup to name a few.
I noticed on our way to Olive that Delhi is not a walkable city. Taxis and buses are absolutely necessary to get from A to B. Buses are out of the question for me because most of the passangers (we are talking 99%) are male and apparently most bus drivers buy their licenses, meaning they have loads of accidents.
The last few evenings have been quiet. The jetlag has taken me out of commission for the most part. Tonight it's off to the Bahai Temple which is shaped like an unfurling white lotus and floodlit in the dark making it a spectacular sight by all accounts.
Hasina took off for a conference in Jaipur today and I will join her for four days. I am off to catch a train to Jaipur at 6am tomorrow.
Some of my Delhi pictures are below (past the last day in Toronto post).
posted by LOTC at 7:21 AM
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