Delhi (by Niki)

Wow, I can hardly believe we are here! India is the country we both have been talking about, dreaming about, thinking about the most ever since we planned this trip and it is almost surreal to be here. We came in with a lot of expectations and reservations and although it is too early to call it any which way, I think we will be pleasantly surprised.

We arrived at the airport at 3:30 am which is not a fun time to arrive anywhere so we were nervous about the touts and our exhaustion level. We needn't have worried because there were less touts than at Cancun airport and because we arranged a driver from our guesthouse, we arrived seamlessly (although he was an hour late: welcome to India time!).

Since we didn't sleep until 5:30 am, we slept in late and we did not have the advantage of a full day. We decided to poke around our immediate area of Delhi, called Hauz Khas, and to get a handle on things as we roamed about. The area we chose is in southern Delhi; we decided to stay away from the touristy areas and just take the metro in so that we can find a reprieve whenever we wanted if necessary. We are staying in a beautiful guesthouse which feels like luxury with all the space, a private terrace, and antique furniture. The woman of the house, Tannie, is a trained chef and teaches me things about texture and the flavor combinations of her delicious meals while Murad and Josh enjoy their common interest of discussing history and politics. We have found an oasis of calm with them and they are very helpful with their advice about India.

First impressions are that my expectations of being stared at, touted at, and overwhelmed by filth and noise are inaccurate to say the least and my expectations of meeting friendly people, being charmed by monuments and temples, having good food, and finding amazing shopping have been surpassed. It is obvious that we are a curiosity to people and they glance over but at least in this area, I find the staring and touts to be non-problematic. For the most part, people just let us be and offer a friendly head waggle of welcome.

There is definite chaos with the build up of garbage on the streets, stray dogs, the smell of men relieving themselves everywhere, and the cars honking constantly as they whiz by, but it is also exciting! Every time we cross the street I feel like I might have a heart attack! It seems like a different world with very drastic dynamics within. One second you can walk into a lovely boutique store and literally in the next second, you can step into an alley way with a dead kitten that no one has thought to remove. But in order to find the beauty and power of India, we might have to have a few life and death experiences (just joking Mom!), tolerate a few bad smells, and inevitably see much worse than a dead kitten forgotten on the road.

I am so looking forward to tomorrow and whatever else India will bring!