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!
