Nomadic adventures of Andy & Ste

Second day in Jaipur

andyandrade — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 20:02:00 GMT

www.incredibleindiatourstravel.com

Horn Please!

andyandrade — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 00:53:00 GMT

After a couple of days in Delhi me and my partner in crime Stefano are slowly finding our way around the city, which is quite surprising considering Delhi´s size and random urban development. We are starting to get used to local habits as well...sort of. To be honest We are still far away from getting used to the unbearable weather, but it should get better as the days pass by.

The tile is what you can read in most of the autorickshaws and trucks in India. Horning is not an inconvenient option here but a need, I would say the national sport.

So we experienced our very first auto-rickshaw ride to get to the nearest metro station, we agreed on the price even though it was almost double than the real metered one, but still very cheap... 40 cents more or less.

To sum them up, these last two days were filled by various activities, mainly involving going around, eating, shopping, sweating, eating, drinking and more eating. Yesterday We walked around Old Delhi, which is basically the poorest and saddest part od the city. It is an experience on its own: everything smells bad, looks dirty and fells muddy. Old people, young kids and random tuts try to stop those adventurous travellers who put their own lives at risk at every corner. Of course, I´m exaggerating a bit, it´s not hell. But really, crossing a street (even with a green light and zebras) or just avoiding rickshaws and people in a hurry take some time and effort. We made it though. Temples, tombs and the famous Red Fort are the touristic highlights not to be missed.

Andrea and Albert, our hosts here in Haus Khaz, are just the best people you can ask for. They know the best places, restaurants and ways to get around efficiently. They are also part of a cool spanish-abroad community, mostly engineers working for spanish companies here in Delhi. Yesterday night in fact we first had a nice but veeeery hot dinner in a nepalese place in our hood, called Yeti. 4 stars out of 5, maybe more. I underextimated the portions so I ordered a main and a veggie platter. After the first dish I was already full and burning, so I just tried some of the other and asked for a doggie bag.:) Then rickshaw to Defence Colony, a quite residential suburb 80 rupies away, where a huge varied group of spaniards was having a cool party in an even cooler place.

Fine rum, aged whiskey and scotch made everything easier from the start. Hat off!

This morning, after some deserved hours of sleep, I had breakfast with the leftover food of the night before. I feel like having spicy food every single time, it´s just so rich!

Today Andrea was off from work (it´s Saturday after all), so she first brought us some muffins from Costa Coffee (yummy) and right after she joined us for our evening out at Sarojini Nagar Market, where after several hours and liters of sweat (gross I know), we managed to buy 3 pairs of happy hippie pants and 4 Indian semi-formal shirts, both long and short sleeves, for 650 rupies alltogether, less than 10 euro. Bargain! We also had some street food, momos and a crispy-alternative version of the better known samosa...

Now it´s getting late and we need some more food in our (Delhi) bellies, so it´s enough for this time, catch up soon for more adventures and stories. Also, the first pics to come, tomorrow I reckon.

Namaste!

First day in Delhi

andyandrade — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 17:31:00 GMT

So, after a good day of traveling from Venice to Rome and then Jeddah for the night, me and Stefano landed in sticky Delhi. Really hot and sticky event though he monsoonic season is almost over... that´s what they told us.

Taxi to Haus Khaz, in the southern part of Delhi, where my good friend and eponymous Andrea (but of a different sex) was waiting for us, at the gate of the village. Small streets, old buildings, fancy shops, art galleries, restaurants and bar all around. Wow, that´s not the Delhi I was expecting to be honest, but still really impressive. Colours, smells, people and most of all CONTRASTS, which makes India so famous (and infamous) for, I guess.
Great lunch in a vegetarian restaurant with south indian food. Great selection of indian "crepes" with yummy fillings and tasty sauces to dip in. Green cocunut water and super sweet cake to finish off. Just the perfect start of our indian adventures.

Then Andrea left to her workplace, the Cervantes institute, a spanish institution/language center that works (mostly) with spanish-speaker embassies all over the world. She had to translate in real time a speech in a scientific congress, from spanish to english.

So we found ourselves walking around the hood, checking ruins, tombs, parks, small lakes and cafes. Loads of animals around, that is very cool eheh Yellow-striped squirrels, dogs, pidgeons, cows, elephants... yes, you read it right, ELEPHANTS. We´ve already made our first encounter with one of the icon of this big country. To be honest I was distracted by some cows that were crossing the streets while Stefano spotted the big fella... I trust him though. :)

At night we agreed on having a drink on a rooftop bar nearby. Great idea, really. Amazing view on a big river and friendly but slow service. The only negative point: Stefano´s drink choice, a deadly mix of beer, tabasco, worcester sauce and something else I can´t remember. Disgusting, at latest. Other than that, all good. Heaps of foreigners around... from their conversation and ease with local habits most of them have been living here for a while, I reckon. Definitely more foreigners abroad than backpackers or random travelers like us.

After a while Andrea (my spanish friend not my alter ego) got back from work to join us for dinner in another amazing restaurant downstairs, on the third floor of the same building... a small restaurant called Gunpowder, for a reason. :) Hot, but soooo yummy.
There we met a huge colony of spaniards...they have all been working here for years in different fields, from commerce to engineering to consulting. What a nice bunch of people!
We finished off our first night with a local beer, Kingfisher, in another fancy rooftop bar called Out of the box, and we went to bed, exhausted but happy. :)

More fun to come!

Andy