Goodbye Nepal, hello India. After saying our goodbyes to Travis's mom who was heading home, we got to the Kathmandu Airport 3 hrs before our flight as recommended by our guide. The aiport is still living in the dark ages and it is somewhat amazing it operates at all. We were body searched with "pat downs" oh about 20 times each in the confusing and unpleasant process making our way from the ticket booth to the plane. Once airborne for Delhi though, it felt like we were in a new world. The sun was setting on the Himalayas as we flew over, we were served complimentary beer, a super tasty Indian dinner with dessert, and each had our own personal TV. Life was looking pretty good.
For several days before the flight, we had both been dreading parts of India we would have to deal with. On the top of that list was Delhi and getting around. Our plan was to stay with a friend of Victoria's parents who lived a little south of the city, but we had to get there on our own from the Delhi aiport. Just after unboarding the plane most of our fears were washed away as we could tell the new international aiport was simply amazing, very sophisticated and super clean. We joked we should just stay here for 3 nights.
Customs was a breeze as was getting our pre-paid cab to take us to Prem's (our host) house. It was quickly apparent that the driver didn't know where we were going but Prem had emailed us good directions and we finally found the spot. Prem met Victoria when she was just a baby back in Saudi Arabia and not since so nobody really knew what each other looked like. This made ringing the doorbell a little nerve-racking as we had no idea what to expect. Fortunatley, Victoria looks exactly like her mother so Prem had no trouble figuring out who we were. Our fears were quickly put to rest again as Prem was a wonderful host and swepted us away to a local food joint for our first of many amazing Indian meals. Assured by our host that the meat was safe, we chowed down on tasty chicken ending Travis's 3 weeks of being a vegetarian! That might give you an idea of just how sick he was in Kathmandu after eating chicken...
The next morning we got up ready to see Delhi and felt much better about our prospects knowing we had a quite home to return to after seeing the city. Prem guided us to the nearby subway station; on the way we could see in daylight the very nice neighborhood he lived in which had grown into much more glamorous places than when he moved here 20 years ago. Most houses had a shack outside the gate with a guard and many cars parked in the driveway. The area used to be quite modest but had grown a lot as several call service offices had moved in and built tall glass buildings and shopping malls as far as the eye could see.
The two of us climbed aboard the metro with ease heading for the heart of the city. We had to stand for the length of the almost 1-hr ride as it was packed with students and business men. The metro was again very clean and never felt too crowded as one might imagine could be the case in India. There was a female-only car on the train but we didn't want to be seperated. It would have meant Victoria could have sat down though but not wanting to miss our stop we stuck together. During the ride though, we became aware that everybody was staring at as. We knew that we were going to draw attention in countries like Vietnam and China, but had really thought India would be the same. I guess a tall red-head and blonde lady look pretty odd on the metro in Delhi because people sure liked looking at us. (Note: Travis has actually been asked twice now if he was 7ft tall. And who could tell these friendly people "no")?
The fancy airport and metro station had given us a sense of comfort that was quickly taken away when we got off and started walking around. We had landed at a part of town that was unpleasant, overwhelming, and scary all at once. To give you an idea the situation, we were in need of a little food and both cried tears of joy when we saw a McDonalds sign and quickly darted in. We cannot even remember the last time either of us had been to a McD's in the states but we were so happy to be in one now. The menu obviously needed to be changed as beef is a no-no here and instead they offer great veggie options (the McVeg) and paneer (like the cheese version of tofu, very good). We ate up, recharged our courage and headed back out.
Things only got better from there as we got more used to the scene on the streets and found better areas. The super tourist areas had lots of touts that were annoying but we have since learned to simply ignore and they don't bother us as much. We stopped at the largest mosque in India where we had to walk around barefoot but the best part was that they made Victoria wear this awful pink pokadot robe to cover her already covered legs and shoulders. It was quite amusing to see all these tourist ladies walking looking like circus freaks while the local women looked totally normal since they didn't have to don a gown.
From place to place we took our fist rickshaw ride which is a three-wheeled vehicle run on compressed gas with a bike handlebar. We felt proud of our bargining skills to talk the driver down, but I am sure we still paid too much. These litty buggy-like cars rule the streets of Delhi and are actually quite fun to be in. We got off near the Parlament area but before we let the driver go we borrowed his cell phone to call a lady we needed to find to buy train tickets from. She is a travel agent that our guide in Nepal knew and she happily met us nearby with the 2 sets of tickets in hand. She then asked if this was our first time on India trains, which it is, and she just got a smirk on her face which basically looked to say "good luck gringos." We shall see...
The area around the government offices was much better than the area where we first got off the metro and we happily strolled down the main road which would be the equivalent of The Mall in DC. Occasionally fancy black BMWs would drive by probably with some diplomat and it occured to us how hard it must be to keep a nice car looking nice in a city like Delhi where the rule of the roads is that there are no rules. Having seen about all the city we cared to and dinner approaching we found a nearby metro station and returned back the shelter of Prem's.
For dinner we walked over to a nearby mall where we dinned at a cafetaria-style place that was very popular. It is like a very sanitary version of American fast-food with great local dishes. The highight was trying Indian ice cream which was a little less creamy. They wanted to put rice noodles on top but we kindly asked them to put the noodles on the side! Who thought of putting noodles on ice cream?
The next day we hit a few more sites by jumping on the metro (which we felt like pros at) and then caught a Bollywood movie at one of the nearby malls. Prem joined us to help explain what was going on but it turned out that a lot of English was spoken in the movie. They would change languages mid-sentence which was very odd but kept us vaguely in the loop. Apparently Bollywood puts out over 700 films a year and every Friday a new crop of films come into the theaters. There was also an intermission in the movie where the staff comes around and takes food orders that will be delivered to your seat. We managed to pass on the nachos.
After the very long movie, Prem again guided us to a great restaurant and ordered different foods for us to try. We were so lucky to have him introduce us to the culture and the unfamiliar world of India. During dinner the table was covered with actual personal ads in a newspaper which we read with great interest. Despite the drop in arranged marriages, there is still a TON of pressure on young people to marry certain types of people. The ads had a whole system for expressing what type of family they were from, their education, job, and what they were looking for. Prem said that online match-making has taken off recently which makes sense given how many people live here and how important marriage is.
Tomorrow we fly to Udiapur a little further south to relax in the hills.
T&V
