matyi&ems@india.com: Delhi:first,second and third impressions

After a really comfortable flight with Finnair (dinner,breakfast,pillow,blanket movies and what not all included) we arrived to Delhi. The airport was like every other one. It was air conditioned, but somehow we were sweating after 10 minutes. The metro took us from the airport right to New Delhi train station, which was near to our hotel. The metro was also air conditioned, and modern, probably the best one I've ever seen. So the first impressions of Delhi were not too different from the 'European' experience.

The first moment when we got out of the metro station into the buzz of the city was quite a shock. First of all, it was around 6:30 am, and it was already f`kin warm. But I think the humidity is even more shocking than the heat. Imagine that you`re just standing and not doing any physical work, and you instantly begin to sweat, your clothes get wet and clingy. Plus the air is full of smells you didn't even know existed until now. It`s suffocating, but exciting. You hate it and love it at the same time. We still don`t know where those smells come from. Some of them are probably incense sticks and flowers, garbage burning on the streets, dog shit, piss (which smells totally different than at home, it`s much more intense – believe me we're experts), charas (which is also much more intense than the weed smell we are used to), and car gas. After you get used to the fresh air of Delhi, you look around and see that the streets are full of people, cars, rickshaws, old bikes, carriages and everything you can and can`t imagine. There are people standing, sitting, sleeping, spitting, eating, pissing, shitting on the streets. The cars and rickshaws are honking constantly since most of them don`t have rear-view mirrors and there are just a few traffic lamps. You always have to look around not to get hit by something (the honking helps a bit).

If all this was not enough for our sleepy morning eyes, there were people coming to us constantly trying to sell us something, take us somewhere or just get some money from us. I think this aspect was the most bothering of all. And still is.

Anyway, after a hard struggle with Delhi`s crowd we found our way to the Main Bazaar, which is a long road packed with shops, we finally arrived to the hotel in a narrow side street of the bazaar which was a bit scary at first, since everything smelled of piss, and there were a lot of street dogs everywhere. The hotel was as nice as it could be in the middle of Paharganj. The room had no window (in this crowded city it`s not easy to find space for everything, the houses are all built over-under-near-inside each other). The room was clean, but smelled of some kind of disinfectant (the smell of naphtalin combined with petrol). Anyways, we were really tired, so we went to sleep for a couple of hours, and then we set off to explore this crazy city.

Random ~~overcrowded~~ bazaar

The high-tech part of the city

I guess if you're new in a city people can see that you're lost, and usually they try to help you out. Well, in this case, Delhi`s populations was also trying to be really helpful... by trying to screw us over in every possible situation with a huge smile on their faces. The funniest guy stopped us when we were trying to get through the train station, and told us that we can`t go through for some unknown reason, and started chatting with us. He appeared to be really friendly, stating that he works for the government tourist bureau, the only official tourist office in Delhi. He took our guide book, showed us the building on the map (which was truly the official office), and hired us a rickshaw to take us there to get free maps and some info. All of this happened so fast, that we didn't even have the time to realize that he might be lying. So we went into the office, it was modern, air conditioned with a lot of computers. The guys inside were kind and helpful. If it wasn't for the holy gps, we wouldn't have realized that we were part of a nicely arranged scam. But luckily Matyi quickly checked our coordinates and realized that we are not in the right office. So we thanked them for their kindness and left as fast as we could. This was the most elaborate scam we've come across till now, but there were many-many others as well.

Jama Masjid - Largest indian mosque

After the first day we started to get used to how things work in Delhi, and it was easier to find our way. We got used to the heat and the smells, and to the fact that we couldn't trust anyone. We got used to being constantly stared at, and we took hundreds of photographs with Indian people, like some Bollywood soap stars. The most demanding were young boys and families with little children. We have a picture with me (Ems) holding a 6-7 month old baby.

Preparing for photo-shooting with indian family and guest Bollywood star: Ems

We survived Delhi without food poisoning or getting hit, and by the end we came to enjoy the hassle of the bazaars. We will definitely go back for 2 more days at the end of our trip.