No Delhi Belly Yet !
Trip Start
Oct 14, 2005
1
4
21
Trip End
Oct 31, 2005
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New Delhi,
India
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Boy, was I ever naive about how quickly I could adjust to this time zone. I simply could not get moving this morning. My alarm went off at 9:30, and I thought I would just bounce out of bed after 6 hours of sleep. Not so. I dragged down to the buffet breakfast, ate a lot and then went back to bed. My alarm went off again at 12:30pm, and I turned it off. I didn't get out of bed until 1:30pm, and my meeting with my local tour operator was scheduled for 2pm. I had just gotten out of the shower when he rang the room to say that he was there. I managed to get ready by about five after 2pm, and we had a wonderful meeting for a couple of hours up in the executive lounge.
We planned special events for ever person's birthday on the tour (we have five birthdays to celebrate). One guy's is on the first night everyone is here, so we are going out to a show of folk music and dancing. Another happens while we are touring temples and palaces in Agra. In the Hall of Audiences, we will have a magician come in and perform for the group. Another gets a special elephant ride, and the last will have Happy Birthday sung to him at the Elephanta Caves in Mumbai. I'm the 5th person, and I have no idea what will happen on my birthday, but just being here is special enough for me.
After our meeting I wanted to find a place to purchase water inexpensively and also to use the internet since it is about $10 per hour here at the hotel. We walked a big circle around the hotel, which is very centrally located on Connought Place. The minute you get off the main street and into the back alleys it is a different world altogether. Men urinating in public, monkeys all around on the street (dangerous, not to be messed with), absolutely devastating beggars and cripples. But cheap water (25cents for a 1 liter bottle) and cheap internet (less than $1 per hour). Unfortunately, they closed at 8pm, and it is now midnight, and I just didn't have any free time to get there on my own.
I said goodby to Jay, my tour operator, at about 5pm, and then my friend Martin from GTA in London (who just moved to head up a GTA office in Delhi) came by to go out to dinner with me at about 6pm. We sat and caught up on each other's lives for a while, then looked at some of the amenities of the Park Hotel where I am staying. It has a nice gymnasium and pool. Then we left the hotel and began to walk in the streets looking for a good restaurant, and were absolutely beseiged by street vendors and beggars. You just have to plow resolutely forward and not pay them any attention at all, or they simply will not let you go.
We came across a very modern looking restaurant named "Gaylord" and thought, why not? (giggle) It was excellent food, and a great choice! Before the appetizers they brought this flat bread, which was fiery hot. There was a dill yoghurt to dip on the bread which was good and these little things that looked like some sort of white corn. It turned out to be cloves of roasted garlic. I'm sure I'm going to reek, but I'll be healthy!
After an enormous dinner that was actually very good (I'm not a fan of Indian cuisine), we walked back to the hotel. Martin had heard that there was a nice club inside the hotel, and we found it. Everyone in India is still smoking, so it was a little uncomfortable with the smoke in the air, but the place was beautifully done and played good music. There was some dancing, but mostly people were sitting around and talking. I'll have a sore throat tomorrow since the music was so loud we had to yell at each other for a few hours. It was great seeing Martin again, and he is going to come back in tomorrow evening to meet both my tour operator and yet another tour operator in India who is marketing to the gay community. The two tour operators happen to be good friends, so that's how that can work without being a rivalry.
Martin left shortly after 11pm, and I'm going to be getting to bed soon. They are picking me up at the hotel tomorrow morning at 10am to take me to the Baha'i Temple. Jay or his associate who picked me up at the airport, Qumar, are also going to take me to a few other temples in the area that are off the main tourist track, so it should be a very inspirational day. I'll give you a report tomorrow evening, after what I hope is a full night's rest.
Hugs,
Dan
