We had the pleasure of staying at Harkaran's friends plac whilst in Delhi - the real deal! The first night we were there, Rhea came to grab us from the airport- she was dressed as a police officer from a halloween party... if only i could have recorded the looks she was getting! When we arrived home to her place, there was an afterparty in full swing - scotch flowing and cards flying. I tried to stay up and celebrate, but lasted a mere 20 minutes.
The next day we woke early and went on our first day of exploration. Our first stop was Chandi Chowk - a crazy area in Old Dehli with tiny streets, vendors everywhere, rickshaws and autos dodging eachother... My goodness I could not believe how many people were everywhere. It was like a flood of people that never ended. After roaming around for a while, we made our way to Red Fort, a Wold Heritage Site for India. It was quite impressive, with many momuments still standing from the Moghul empire. Harky is quite the photographer, so he is creating a large album for when we are finished the trip!! We also visited Jama Masjid and finally this little bazaar called Delhi Haat - it was so cute! Once we were there I was so happy to be out of the loud bustle of streets and horns. I picked up a super cute pair of elephant print pants. I couldn't resist!! Plus a couple of other trinkets, it was Diwali and well there were some pretty cool things around.
The following day we had a great time visiting the lotus temple, qutab minar and then a mall that was made entirely of marble. all three areas were really impressive. One thing i could not get over tho were all of the cows meandering the streets. They are sacred in India, but these cows were found eating garbage and anything else they could nuzzle into - kind of sad! Also kind of ironic that these sacred animals are allowed to be foresaken and graze on whatever they can find. But as I've been told - This is India!!
We had a fantastic Diwali celebrataion - Henna, fireworks, lots of food and drink. And Gambling!! I was lucky enough to win about 500 rupees from the 100 I put in.. which equates to just under $10, but it was so much fun none the less! I was able to stay up until 3am, although the party didnt stop until 6am... The white girl did pretty well for herself! The next day there was so much pollution in the air - like a huge cloud of fog that would not clear. I imagined myself in space over Diwali, and I am sure the entire cotinent would be lit up by fireworks, and then after and even thicker cloud of pollution that usual. Even on Rhea's road the next day the garbage and debris from everything was crazy.
That is all for now - will give you updates hopefully on a daily basis now that we have access to internet again!!
