Spending two an a half days in Delhi are enough to make you habilitate to India, harsh but quickly. Although a better advice would be that if you are first time traveller in India and you fly to Delhi, take the first bus you see, leave and you come back later.
What characterises Delhi is the honks. They drive with one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the honk button. Probably, when they want to change gear they leave the steering wheel as they never stop honking. After Delhi, you cant get mad again on someone honking at you, back in your country.
It took me one day to leave any stress I had before the trip. The half day was a bit frustrating as I couldn't find what I was looking for and people were misleading me to other places trying to make some money.
One thing that happens too much in Delhi is that people come to you to chat and then they tell you about the tourist information center around the corner, the "official" or "government's" one as they say. I never heard about this trick and as I was walking around randomly, I thought it would be good to get the free map they will offer me.
Once you enter this place they won't let you leave without booking something. On the beginning, the guy was mentioning all the time, "I'm here to help you, I dont sell you anything" but I was thinking he was way too helpful for a government's office. While my plan was to go from point A Delhi to point Z Jibhi, he was writing down plans with 5 more places to visit, 2 days there, 1 day there, bla bla bla... of course he would book all hotels, buses and trains like a very well connected travel agency. He made like 5 different plans but I told him that I can't decide now because I travel with no plan. The tourist information thing was mentioned to me like 20 times while in Delhi. Be aware unless you want to book things fast, they are good at this.
The other half day was great as I fell on a french girl, Franciana, who was in the tourist center earlier ehen I was there too. We chatted a bit about how they got us stuck there and then I joined them.
He was with a very nice Indian guy named Chayan and we went to eat some indian food. The hospitality of Chayan was an example of how all people should be. Franciana was a nice and funny girl that has the typical french accent that reminded me nice times in France.
Slowly, my stress was disappearing and to finish up a great day, a local celebration of hindu gods, just outside the hostel, kept me there three hours listening their beautiful music and watching their rituals.
I could see a lot of happiness in the faces of the kids, something I dont see in western culture' s kids. They get to stay outside all the time, they get dirty and they fight innocently. I was lucky that my childhood was similar but I dont see it happening nowadays.
This first day reminded me how good is to grow up free in the streets and how much we need to have hospitality in our lifes.
I wont advise you to leave the kids play outside as they need other kids to play with but i advise you (all the parents of little kids and the parents to be) when you are thinking of moving to another place for being more comfortable with the kids, consider as one of your search criteria, a neighborhood with many kids or parks so they can go, play, fight, hurt themselves and get dirty.
Anyway its better than watching tv or playing video games. (Extra tip: small houses keep kids outside)
About hospitality: giving advices, helping travellers, picking up hitchhikers, cooking food for and letting the people stay at your place are great things to make you happier, sociable and able to discover new things... So DO IT.
The second day had the buy-train-ticket anventure and some sightseeing (red fort, qutub minar, ) together with Chayan again finishing up with Francianna for a dessert.
The third day, I bought some things I need for the trip (in India you can find everything you need easily so dont bother packing stuff) and then I spent half of the day with a great indian CouchSurfer Harish, talking about travels, cultures, india and many other stuff. Great guy.
The night I had to catch a 7 hour night train to Kalka and then another 5 hour "toy" train from Kalka to Shimla.
I wish I could describe everything that catches my interest here but its just too many things. I ll post photos as soon as I can.
Location: Aut
Next stop: Jibhi
No comments:
Post a Comment