Good Bye Thailand, Hello India!

 Welcome to New Delhi: Our driver (on the Intrepid staff) is a chatty Indian man. We were pleasantly surprised at the ease of passing through immigration. As we leave the busy airport, which appeared to consist of mostly Indian travelers, he tells us that 33 million inhabit New Delhi. There is Old Delhi and New Delhi. We will be go staying in New Delhi for two nights.


It is Sunday, February 1st. So our driver says the traffic is light right now. But there are plenty of cars and what seems like crazy driving not respecting the painted lines separating lanes. Our driver often Strattles the white line beeping and challenging vehicles to move over and let him pass. The lines seem to be just a suggestion. Cows on the highway in one spot, a wall with dogs atop a wall in another, some wearing fitted blankets. People possibly feeding them. I one spot he points to a place off the road where buses and people are gathered. He says it a bus station. All I see are crowds and small old buses.

In one area, closer to the city people sit on side walks, clothing is hanging on fences, horns constantly beeping trucks, motor bike-tuk tuks, scooters and cars all vying for space in 3 lanes . Then we turn down a two lane traffic clogged street n the middle of a shopping area to find a snarl of vehicles seemingly going nowhere. 

Sidewalks are narrow with very few people walking seem to be going nowhere. The shops that I've seen all seem to carry similar items for local shoppers. Nothing I saw in the windows catches my interest.  I cant imagine taking to the streets in this chaos.  When we take money out at the ATM we find out that10,000 Rupees is equal to $100 US dollars. Not sure what things cost yet. When we finished checking in at reception three men were waiting outside our door to bring in our small, three bags. Each waited for a tip before they left.

I feel like a deer in headlights fatigue setting in from our 5:30 am wake-up, and two hour flight delay on Air India. It is a nice plane, very comfortable with a full breakfast. 4.5 hours later we are in India...amazing!

We met our tour leader tonight at dinner in the hotel. There are twelve of us in the group. Two from Scotland,  two from New Zealand and 4 of us from California.  The food is rich and delicious as we each share what we ordered. Tomorrow we hit the streets and take a train to Old Delhi. We are told that we will be gone all day. I counsel myself to be brave! 











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