Day 2: Culture Shock (02/21/2017)

The first real day can be summed up perfectly with the name 'culture shock'! A mass of new impressions bombarded me, waiting to be processed. Even the first night is barely worth mentioning. Covered in small red dots, I woke up the next morning. The so-called bed bugs had done their job and bitten both of my arms. I was lucky that I had anticipated the worst and spent the night in a sleeping bag, protecting most of my body. A sleep mask and earplugs also did their job and protected me from the snoring of the other 3 roommates in my 4-bed room.

So I set out alone to explore the city. After consulting with the hostel staff, I decided to go on my own to the Red Fort. The journey there involved taking the metro, a motorized rickshaw ride, and a bicycle rickshaw ride. It's incredible how cheap these small taxis are. Although you have to bargain for everything, that's what makes India unique.

Mainly small, dark-skinned, poorly English-speaking, head-wobbling Indians with baggy pants and strong accents tried to squeeze every rupee out of white people. Tourists were easy prey!

Unfortunately, I wasn't really impressed by the Red Fort, as it turned out to be a typical tourist attraction. The prices were disproportionately high and there wasn't much to see. The nearby bazaar, on the other hand, was much more exciting. People crowded together with rickshaws, transport rickshaws, piled up to 3 meters high, and cars on just a few meters. Dogs and cows ran through the streets as part of the hustle and bustle. Even dead dogs lay in the middle of the road and were hardly noticed. People simply maneuvered around them as they were nothing more than an obstacle. There was a noise level consisting of wild, uncontrolled honking, rattling engines, and loud haggling by the vendors. I was constantly surrounded by people who had a special focus on me. It felt like every rickshaw driver offered me a ride, every street food vendor hoped for my hunger, every shop tried to sell me useless stuff that I would never need anyway. On the other hand, there were also many children and teenagers who seemed so fascinated by my European appearance that they stopped, stared, and even asked for photos.

All these impressions piled up were hard to process.

I was lucky to meet a young Indian woman while bargaining for a rickshaw, who is originally from America and thus speaks perfect English and Hindi. She traveled with me for a few hours and helped me process these impressions. Among other things, she explained to me what kinds of food I could eat and what I should stay away from, as it could make me sick quickly. From that point on, my main source of food would be fresh coconut water!

She showed me the local spice market, which surpassed the terrible smell of burnt gasoline and feces. It was impressive to see how diverse the variety of spices in Indian cuisine is. A colorful sea of colors rounded off the whole experience!

When I returned to the hostel around 8:00 PM, I forced myself to have an unhealthy meal at McDonald's due to exhaustion and tried to mentally calm down.

At the end of the day, I had covered 19 KM and accumulated many more experiences. So, completely marked by the day, I fell into bed and looked forward to another round with the bed bugs.