That's it, we're out of here!

Our plane touched down in Delhi around 5:00 this morning. Thanks to the good ol' Lonely Planet, we knew to ignore the touts outside the airport offereing taxi rides (and there were many!) and went straight to the pre-paid taxi stand. We got a ticket and it was a quick trip into the city and to our hotel, once we got past the splattered cow on the road and subsequent traffic jam. The streets were very quiet, and no one was about. Luckily, also thanks to the L.P., we had booked a place and the hotel dude was awake to let us to our room. After a brief inspection, we dropped our things and went straight to sleep.

We woke up around noon and saw that our hotel room wasn't too bad. The bathroom does smell like the sewer, but we just keep the door closed. We were very sluggish this afternoon and slowly made our way out for the day.

"HOLY COW!"...and that's exactly what we first saw upon stepping out of our hotel onto Main Bazaar street in the Paharganj district: a cow, walking down the street. What a difference from how the street looked at 5:00 this morning! The street was packed with people, rickshaws, auto-rickshaws (tuk tuks), cows, dogs, cars, motorbikes and carts going every which way. All of the shops were now open with their wares spilling out into the street. "Street" here is used liberally. It's really just a wide-ish alley. And the noise! Horns beeping, people yelling, traffic zooming. And the smells! Indian spices, incense burning, exhaust fumes, smoke, cow shit, rubbish heaps, and of course, sewage.

Exactly what we expected of Delhi.

But everything is so colourful, from silks and fabrics being sold to women in their bright saris, to fruits and food sold on the street. And there is so much activity going on, it's hard to believe that Delhi was ever as quiet as we first saw it at 5:00 am.

We made our way down the street (walking any faster than at a cow's pace is impossible) and to Connaught Place. This is the core of New Delhi, with 3 circle roads around a central park. However, all of this area is under construction as the city is in the process of building a metro system. We headed to the Underground Bazaar, bring up images of the Russian Market in Phnom Penh--cramped, crowded, and stinking hot--but made worse because it's underground. But we were surprised to find that they were cool, spacious, and not crowded at all. We walked around--literally in circles--amongst the shops selling saris, clothing, electronics, music, shoes etc. And every shop sells some porn too.

After surfacing from the bazaar, we tried to find a bank with a familiar name but gave up after a while. We caught a pre-paid rickshaw to the Jama Masjid. This is India's largest Muslim mosque, built 1644-1658. The courtyard can hold 25,000 people. We took off our shoes, paid a camera fee, and hired a skirt for Nigel since he had shorts on. It was nice to see some different architecture from the southeastern Asian temples and wats we've been seeing for the last few months. Inside the complex, families were relaxing in the courtyard, and some people were praying. And there was a man hosing down the burning hot cement with skanky sewer water. All of the pigeons flying around reminded us of Europe, even though we've never been there.

We returned Nigel's skirt, walked amongst all of the people down the many steps, past the trash piles and street stalls and caught a bicycle rickshaw to the Red Fort. As we took off, 2 boys jumped onto the back of our rickshaw, shouting "Hello, chapati!" over and over. Nige said "My name isn't Chapati." They were asking for money for food, and Kel replied "We don't have rupees." Despite their begging, they were smiling and laughing all along. Nige is now nicknamed 'Chapati' and Kel is 'No rupee Chapati.'

The Red Fort (in Old Delhi) was comppleted by the Mughals in 1648. It was meant to be the site of their new capital once they moved it from Agra, but this never happened. It is a complex surrounded by a huge red sandstone wall. We went through the main entrance at Lahore Gate, sparking many witty comments from us for the remainder of the day. Inside are the Emperor's living quarters, royal baths, assembly halls, a mosque, and other structures, all surrounded by gardens and what used to be an intricate fountain/pond system. On our way out, we became the celebrities we once were in China, as a few Indian boys & women asked to have their photos taken with us.

After leaving the fort complex, we walked across the street and down Chandni Chowk, the main street of Old Delhi. Being peak hour traffic, it took us nearly an hour to walk down the entire street, constantly being asked to look at saris, pyjamas, and suits. It is probably the main market in the entire area. We wound our way through the hordes of people, rickshaws, motorbikes, street stalls, hand-pulled carts, and cows. Just as it was getting dark, we finally found a rickshaw to take us back to our hotel. This turned out to be a 2 hour cycle ride as the traffic among all of the streets (traffic being 99% bicycle rickshaws and carts) was so congested that we barely moved every 5 minutes or so. The cows move through the traffic just like the rest of us: they move a bit, stop and wait, then move a bit more. Sometimes they get distracted with a pile of rubbish to munch on. We would have walked back to our hotel, but by this time we had no idea where we were.

Finally back in the Pahar Ganj area, we headed for dinner, and felt we deserved a few cold beers. Well, you cannot get beer at restaurants here (except for a few very expensive places) or hotels, or shops. Or almost anywhere for that matter. After suffering through dinner without some amber liquid, we asked the guy at our hotel, and he told us to catch a bicycle rickshaw for 10 rupees to the 'beer shop' and 10 rupees back. We couldn't get into that rickshaw fast enough. The driver rode us there, Nige bought a few bottles and smuggled them out onto the street (everyone else seemed to be stuffing their bottles of whiskey etc. down their pants and up their shirts as they left the shop, so we did too) and went back to our hotel. After a long, hot, filthy day, the beer was crap. It foamed over upon opening, half of it spilling onto the fine white marble floors of our hotel room (which, tragic as it was, at least made the room smell better). The remaining half was barely worth drinking...and after a day like we had, you know the beer had to be really bad not to drink it!

So, all in all, our first impressions of India are as expected. However, most people who leave India not long after arriving do so because of the stench, the noise, the hassling touts, the rip-offs, and the disgustingness of it all. We don't mind this, as it's part of the whole character and culture of India. We do, however, mind that we can't get a beer!!! We're out of here!