Delhi, Delhi, Delhi (Tag 33 of the world trip)

07.10.2019

This morning, the alarm clock rang at 6 o'clock and I woke up only when it was already ringing for a few seconds, which is unusual :O But maybe it means that I simply slept well/deeply :D

We both had a little stomach ache from overdoing it with the pizza, so I only spread toast, we packed our backpacks and then we were off. Our host had kindly given us some tips for the preparations of our onward journey! :) So we knew how many rupees to expect for the rickshaw ride to the bus station (50-80 rupees). When we checked out and went down to the street, we were of course directly approached. The suggested price was 100 rupees, which we agreed to (we were aware that prices for tourists are higher than for locals and well. 20 rupees more is about 25 cents, so you can give in a bit ;-)

The rickshaw ride was quite short but bumpy, as there are speed bumps everywhere on the main road. In a rickety, three-wheeled vehicle, that's quite an experience :D

Arriving at the bus station, which we already knew from day 1 of the Har Ki Dun trek (the puddle was still there :p), we went to the platforms. We had tried to book the ticket online but like with the pizza, it seemed almost impossible for foreigners and in the end we had given up and wanted to take the bus "by chance". We knew it was possible, because the buses to Delhi are advertised by market criers :)

And that's exactly how it was! We arrived there and several buses were ready for the ride to Delhi. We chose one that looked the least beaten up ;-) It was an AC (air-conditioned) bus, with cute little fans hanging from the ceiling (which were not being used). The price for the 7-hour journey on fairly comfortable seats was 525 rupees per person, which is about 7 € - a steal compared to Germany.

The bus ride started and our driver wasn't shy about hitting the gas a bit^^ The road we were driving on was well built, so it wasn't a problem ;) We initially drove through lots of greenery with plantations, occasional villages, and eventually a few cities. In Roorkee, we stopped for a pitstop and as soon as the bus came to a standstill, various vendors flocked into the bus to advertise their goods. Popcorn, fresh fruits, the fried toast that Jonas and I will never forget (...). They even had flowers for sale - although I wondered why anyone would want to buy flowers in the middle of a bus ride, but okay :D

After that, we drove another 40 minutes to a rest area that offered a wide range of cuisine. In addition to Indian dishes in the food court, there was also a Subway :O But since we had our own sandwiches, we didn't indulge... Still. It felt good to know that we were entering an area where Western food is also accessible :p

At some point, you could tell that we were getting closer to the capital, because the visibility to the sides of the road was limited by dirt/smog. There were also no intermediate sections with open space between the cities, the development just didn't stop. So that's what we expected :)

When we finally reached Delhi, we saw a lot of garbage, a lot of people, and also a lot of poverty. Many things are broken and dirty here, people rummage through the garbage mountains on the banks of the river, some live in makeshift houses under the bridges of the metro... It's a picture that you know and expect when you travel to a metropolis in a developing country... Since the road was quite crowded and we were making slow progress, we could observe some situations that were also stereotypically expected: a passerby walked alongside our bus and behind him was a little boy discreetly feeling through all the bags. With his small hands, he seemed completely unnoticed :O

After the planned 7 hours, we finally reached Kashmere Gate, the final stop of our bus. But when we got off, we were surprised at how little it smelled. We had expected something stronger ;-) Jonas then organized an Uber for us, which was perfect, because of course there was no shortage of offers from other taxi or rickshaw drivers. However, our accommodation is in South Delhi, about a 45-60 minute drive from Kashmere Gate, so the price with a "normal" taxi or rickshaw driver would probably have been astronomical :p

It should be noted that this "high price" is still ludicrously low compared to Europe, but if you can pay half for a service, we'll do it once too ;-)

Our Uber arrived within 5 minutes and the ride cost us just under 300 rupees (less than 4€). I'd like to see someone in New York take an hour-long taxi ride for 4€ :O

Our hostel is a real hostel with shared and private rooms. Since we wanted to save money and also don't necessarily shy away from contact, we booked two beds in a mixed 4-bed room. Upon arrival, the hostel owner wanted to upgrade us to a private room, but we didn't want that^^ So we ended up in a room with two men from Sri Lanka who have been waiting for their visa for Poland for a few weeks now. The two are in their mid/late thirties and want to work in Poland. We could hardly pronounce their names, but they are quite nice and the first night with them was no problem (no snoring or partying or anything^^).

After checking in at the hostel, we sat in the common area - there is the entrance area with seating and then a kind of covered terrace. Unfortunately, there are 1,000,000 mosquitoes here, which also attacked immediately :( That was pretty annoying, but what can you do? Anti-brumm will be used soon :p

We also talked to some of the hostel guests, as it happens.

There's Vera, who studies in Münster and is doing an internship here in Delhi in the field of management/human resources for two months. I found it somehow surprising that someone would come to India for a management internship, even though it's not really surprising. Delhi is a big city that certainly also has a business district ;-)

Then there's Casey, an American who works for an NGO that focuses on clean water. That's a project that you would expect in India and of course it's really cool :) When Jonas told him that we might want to go bouldering here, Casey immediately mentioned that he has a membership in the bouldering hall, which is a 15 minute walk away :D And when we asked him where he comes from and he answered "Colorado", I couldn't help but ask "Boulder, Colorado?" And yes. As luck would have it, that's exactly where he comes from :D

For all non-climbing enthusiasts: The city of Boulder in Colorado is a mecca for climbers, especially outdoors there are many natural boulders (which may have given the city its name or did the city give the sport its name? ;-) ).

And then there's Liam, a fair-skinned Brit who is covered in mosquito bites :( He comes from Leeds and is making a stopover in Delhi before visiting his brother near Melbourne.

The third person we chatted a bit more with is an Indian from South India, Chennai. Unfortunately, we don't know his name (can't Indians have easier names? :p).

With him, Liam and Casey, Jonas and I strolled around the block a bit last night. There is always a night market here on Mondays, where mainly fruits and vegetables but also clothing are offered. The whole thing is quite cozy and when we were there, it wasn't crowded at all. Since it's already dark, everything is illuminated with small spotlights that resemble desk lamps and it all looks super pretty <3 Plus, it was really clean too. Well, we're in an affluent neighborhood here, and of course you notice that when you compare it to our entrance into an obviously poorer neighborhood...

During the walk, the others tried some street food, but Jonas and I were full from the sandwich and fries we had at the hostel. But I had room for a portion of vanilla ice cream ;) (for those who are wondering: during the bus ride, we of course devoured chocolate cookies. Nothing works without them here :D)

Oh yeah. And we booked a new flight from Delhi to Trivandrum in the south on October 13th. Actually, we had already paid for a flight from Ahmedabad to Trivandrum for that day, but due to our trekking tour, a few stops have been cancelled, so Ahmedabad is no longer on our way :O So now we're staying in Delhi for a whole week and we'll see what we'll do here. There are plenty of options! :)