Hello to everyone from India!
We arrived in Delhi a few days ago and it's been such a shock...everything is so different from SE Asia (and anywhere else I've ever been). There's just so much to adjust to. First off, Delhi is an absolutely huge city (17 Million and counting) and certainly feels that way. It's super-crowded and you can't even walk down the street without dodging bicycle carts, autorickshaws, beggars, cows roaming, shit and trash in the street and every manner of vendor cart selling food, belts, cold drinks, etc... It's just an assault on your senses - so many new things I haven't seen, new smells (both good and very, very bad), and the very loud sounds of people honking horns and generally trying not to kill anyone in the street.
So far I have seen:
1. Cows drinking from water fountains.
2. Monkeys sitting on cable lines and balconys...
3. Monkeys actually going to the bathroom off the balcony.
4. Dogs having sex in the middle of the street.
5. Goat heads for sale in the market next to the other goat parts.
A real menagerie.
We took a one-day tour around the city and did see some amazing things. The Red Fort, Qutb Minar, Humayun's Tomb are all worthy of the press they get...absolutely stunning and of huge, huge scale. Unfortunately, our guide wasn't the best. He was an older man who was very set in his presentation...wasn't very into answering questions. He also didn't really like to walk...so instead he would tell us "everything we need to know" and then say "be back in 30 minutes"). Towards the end of the trip, he actually asked "are you tired? would you rather see the Red Fort from the outside or the inside? we could just drive by." Luckily, he made up for his lack of guide skills with an extremely nationalistic and obnoxious attitude. "India is best! Where are you from? USA? Here are the reasons India is better than USA! 1. Free education and food here for all. 2. Divorce rate is 0%. I hear that in your country it's 50%. 3. We have 7 holy rivers and 7 holy mountains. Who else has this? No...clearly India is #1." And then he turned to why you can't trust the Muslims. It was quite infuriating.
To get his thoughts on Islam out of our heads, we visited the Jama Masjid - the largest Mosque in India. You can actually climb to the top of one of the minaret's and get a great view of the Red Fort on one side...and from the other three you just look out as far as you possibly can and just see the warren of streets that is Delhi stretching out as far as you can see. Pretty amazing. Also amazing is that the mosque's courtyard can accomodate 25,000 people during prayer. Wow.
From Delhi, we took a train to the ancient city of Varanasi - where they cremate bodies in ghats on the Ganges river - open to public view. Apparently, if you die here, you are released from the endless cycle of death and rebirth...so a very popular place to die. They have a fire burning which is reputed to have been burning for 5,000 years continuously. The cremation ceremony basically starts with the body being wrapped in a colorful cloth depending upon the type/caste of person who has passed, and then dipped in the Ganges for purification, and then laid upon cords of wood and burned for several hours. The ashes are then spread into the river. You can guess how clean the river is... For several types of persons (lepers for instance) the body is not burned...just thrown into the river. The amazing thing is that, being a holy river, 60,000 people a day bathe in the Ganges both from a practical standpoint (get clean) and a spiritual standpoint(purification). It's still rather disturbing to watch cows lazing about in the river upstream of where people are bathing and brushing their teeth. We did witness a Hindu ceremony on the river one evening where (completely not knowing what was going on...of course) we ended up floating candles down the Ganges and then getting a red mark placed upon our foreheads by what I think was a holy man.
From here, we're off to Khajuraho - the site of ancient Hindu temples. I'm currently fighting off a bit of food poisoning...hopefully it goes away soon. For all the difficulties of this new country, I am seeing many brand new things and hopefully will be able to get over the culture shock and enjoy the experience.
Best to everyone.
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