This morning, as I was having breakfast with fellow guests at the Palace, I realized that I was the youngest and most adventure-seeking guest there. I was surrounded by older European and Chinese folks and each time I looked out the window, I saw no indication that there was anything I was expecting in Dehli---no cows on the streets, no street markets, no auto rickshaws, just fancy restaurants and many people tripping over themselves to serve me. I got a wild hair up my ass wanting to get a real Dehli experience, so I looked up this email I got few weeks back from a beloved yoga teacher who recommended a back packer hotel right in the heart of town. Here I am and oh shit, I’m online (at dial up speed) searching for the closest Palace or 4 Seasons, or even a freggin Hilton!!!! This is a GINORMOUS come down from the Palace. Horns are honking non stop, fire works that sound like gun shots go off every other minute, people are screaming on the streets and a bunch of dismembered folks are begging right outside. I should have known to be weary when I called this place and asked for their best room and was told that a deluxe room would be 2000 rupees ($40). When I arrived here, the palace chauffeur and the guide I hired for the day, sort of gave me a look that should have told me that I needed to head straight back to the palace. Having that craving for an adventure, I told them I’d be fine and checked into the Hotel Yes Please! (Yes, that is really the name of the hotel) A dude took me up an elevator that was no more than 2 feet by 2 feet and I suspect that the elevator doors were made of something like cardboard. The dude handed me a roll of toilet paper with a gesture like I owed him a big tip for providing me with TP! Thank goodness I took two baths and a long shower at the palace this morning because I can’t see myself showering here. The shower spout is about waist high and there’s a bucket with a pail---which leads me to believe that I’m to fill up the bucket and use the pail to pour water over my head in order to shower. What the heck was I thinking and how can I get myself out of this? The good news is that you can’t seem to get a bad meal in this town. All the food I’ve had so far has been amazing. The bad news is that I’m so tired and jetlag is hitting me so hard right now that I don’t have it in me to hit these streets and hustle my way to find a better place right now. I'm trying to be positive--there's a safe roof over my head and it's a large clean room. I'm not taking my clothes off and I'm laying my yoga mat on the bed and sleeping on it. Rest assured that my next update will be from a five star hotel. Dehli is way too intense to rough it. As I write this, I’m searching googleindia for the nearest Four Seasons. By the way, today I saw the President's Palace, the defense and finance buildings, and The Gate of India and I saw the Dehli I was looking for---millions of people in bright colors walking, running, screaming, dancing, laughing, fighting in the middle of everywhere, auto rickshaws, pollution---it was just like Slumdog Millionaire. Everywhere is smoky because of smog and because they burn inscense everywhere! Everything looks like what a picture looks like on instagram if you put it on Sephia. Namaste. . .the morning can't come fast enough. . .I need to get out of the Hotel Yes Please!!!!
