yeah it was a bit of a shock arriving here...
it was dark & id found a couple of other tourists to share a taxi from
the airport. the hotel i was heading for was on the 'main bazar' where
many cheap backpacker hotels are. the street seemed to be anything but
main however. but the taxi driver found my hotel & there was my room,
with a shower & a lovely fan & even my own tv. i tried to stay awake to
watch the world cup final, but it proved much too difficult after
spending most of the day travelling - id been up before 7am at my little
thai island resort, for a morning swim before my long trip back to
bangkok & then the airport. the 24 hours on koh sahmet island were great
tho. it had got pretty busy when i arrived, according to some
backpackers that'd been there longer, but there were still spots of
comparative peace & quiet. The sea was really warm too - a great change
from the last dose of salt water id had, in june at port waikato!! it
was a real good change from th noise & hustle of bangkok too. altho
after a couple of days in Delhi, Bangkok does seem quite
tourist-friendly.
i managed to get around alot of different buddhist temples in bangkok,
travelling by tuk-tuk. each had a display of gold disproportionate to
the means of the monks & worshippers present. One temple even had a
figure of a standing buddha that reached to 20m tall. completely covered
in gold!
Another was built by a succession of monarchs and rose above all but the
city's new high-rises, crowned with a magnificent spire of gold. There
were alot of school-age children around too, as it was a national
Buddhist holiday. Which also meant that i met a few parades around the
city, bound for one or another temple to show their devotion.
The temples were a great place to escape the noise of the streets
outside too, and find some temporary quiet.
ive had 2 days of exploring Delhi now too, and only scratched the
surface! my hotel hooked me up with a local taxi driver guide to trip
around for my first day & visit the central hindu temple, the
presedential palace, Rajghat (where Mahatma Ghandi was cremated), and a
few other sites of significance which escape my memory right now!
In the Hindu temple, the were a vast majority of Indian pilgrims and
only a handful of tourists. which did make the place feel alot more
authentic as a place of worship rather than just another toursit
attraction. I ended up joining the practice of being blessed by one of
the resident holy men, and wore my red dot on my forehead for the
remainder of the day :)
Yesterday managed to disappear into visiting the national museum & art
gallery in Delhi. theyre just very interesting places. i could write aot
about what there was to learn there, but my chair isnt very comfortable.
Centuries & millenia of history intertwined with swings beteen Hindu,
Islamic, Buddhist & Hindu leaders & artworks & legends... and
contemporary artworks inseparable from their religous influences....
Ive stumbled upon a good vegetarian restaurant just 2 min walk from my
hotel too, serving delicious indian meals (and a few western dishes) for
only NZ$2 - $3 :)
and things will only get cheaper outside of Delhi too - im planning on
heading north-west to Manali in a couple of days with anoth couple of
tourists ive met here. One guy is researching his thesis into
mysticism/theology/messiahs etc. we've already come up with a couple of
ideas to 'cure' the world's ills!
India just seems to draw in people who are a bit different to your
typical backpacker i guess??
but what do i know - ive only been here 2 days so far!!
who knows what il be thinking a week or a month from now?
oh yeah, i guess you wouldve heard about bombs in bombay? dont worry its
a long way from here & im going further away too!
no doubt il find another computer along the way, so keep listening
:)
brent
ps. that was quite long ay, thanks for reading!! ;)
