Like with Mongolia, I decided to wait until I was home to write the blog. I took notes on google docs, wrote the first four entries before Jeremy arrived, and the rest is being written at home. Pictures are being added after, so will be an approximation of timing with the events in the writing.
It took three flights to arrive in India. I had to swiftly walk between the first and the second flight because the jet bridge malfunctioned. Charlotte Airport is the worst. The flight from JFK to Delhi arrived over an hour earlier, due to winds in our favor. I filled out an immigration paper, and upon reaching customs and handing it to them, it was blank. I must have grabbed the wrong one in my jetlagged state.
After exiting the airport, I was greeted by my driver, who transferred me to the airport hotel about ten minutes away. He mentioned Holi, but I was too tired at the time to process this. In order to walk into the hotel, I had to put my bags through an x-ray scanner. It was too late to go to a restaurant, so I walked a few blocks away, to a convenience store. In order to enter the region, I had to again have my bag checked. It was just an empty shopping bag.
The convenience store doorway was watched by a man in a security uniform of sorts. The store was made up of three very narrow aisles. After securing lots of water, I picked up one small prepacked marble cake, and the uniformed man pointed out that there was a sale if I had wanted three. I did not. When I left the store, he asked for a tip.
I wasn't sure whether to bring a bottle of water to breakfast or if they would have filtered water that would be safe for me. They had drink dispensers, but I couldn't tell if this was filtered. They brought me a bottle of water upon request. As I was finishing, the staff surprised me with a small pink frosting covered cupcake, due to my newly established high level rewards membership, as a perk to a new credit card. Then, they wanted to take a picture of me and have me put in a good review for them on Tripadvisor. Lame.
The next day I took a one hour Uber ride to the Old Delhi train station. I saw a monkey playing with trash along the side of the road along the way. The vehicle had a warning light, keeping below empty the entire trip. The total cost was about $3.50. When I arrived, I tried to tip, but the app limits you to $1.20. Afterwards, I began to tip extra with cash.
The train station required bag xray scanning as well, but on the other side were two women looking at their phones as bags flooded through. It was easy to locate my platform, and the train was sitting and waiting to depart. Unfortunately, my train car was locked. After waiting a while, I noticed the car down from mine had its door opened, so I went in there and walked the rest. Before we departed, an officer came in with a drug sniffing dog.
My cabin had a top and lower bunk on both sides. As the train began moving, I was struck by how many shanties were less than a foot away from the train as I passed. It was shocking. They were mere feet from the tracks. My cabin was empty for the first thirty minutes, and I was soon joined by a man in maybe he mid to late forties, and a younger man. The younger one slept the entire time, and the older one was quite chatty.
The chatty fellow showed me pictures of his wife and twenty three year old son. He told me about Holi and how it is mostly celebrated with family. I asked about the metal detectors everywhere, and he explained that the government is focused on general security and expanding infrastructure. He felt that the heightened security was a good thing. He asked me if I was currently completing my studies.
When the train began braking, I lined up to exit. A young man outside jumped onto the step outside my train car and was holding. An Indian man standing nearby caught this and warned me of the possibility that he might waiting to grab the bag of a foreigner. I made sure to hold on as I descended from the train. I walked alongside a young couple, also traveling, so I would not appear to be traveling alone. We were shadowed by a young man that was persistent in trying to sell us a ride along with other services around the city. My hotel was supposed to send a driver, but they never showed up, and did not respond to messages. I ordered an Uber.
The ride in the Uber was something that I wished I had captured on video. The amount of tuk tuks, motorcycles, double decker buses, and people walking and pushing in the street was a sight like I'd never seen before. The honking did not let up for a second.
I had been unaware of Holi before arriving in India. I had seen pictures before, but I did not know its name or when it would occur. Originally Qatar was going to encompass the first part of my trip, but ended up canceling and adding extra time in India instead. Holi took place in this extra time. The first night involves bonfires and the following day involves throwing and wiping colored powders onto people. I immediately began researching how to bring a camera along. Every site said not to, unless you were very, very prepared. I did have a rain cover for my camera, but I was unsure what to do.
Breakfast at the hotel was by order, with a set of choices. I chose Indian Paratha rather than an American or European style. It was served with a sour tasting cream and another sauce that the waiter warned me was very hot, to barely touch to the food. I hired an uber driver for the day, which I hadn't even known was an option. I queued up the locations in the app. When I sat down, the driver put me on the phone with someone. This person explaining that there would be a surcharge to visit the forts above the city, due to the "elevation of the drive." This was nonsense of course, as the forts were not high up at all. I skipped the forts.
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