Delhi

I don't think I could have found a more perfect opposite to Dubai if I had tried. Everybody warned me that Delhi would be an overwhelming array of sights and particularly smells: poverty, garbage, pollution. It's true that the city has all that, but even so I'm really enjoying it here. I'm finding the chaos and busyness energizing, with so much to stimulate and challenge you here. And the people are beautiful - very open and willing to engage with you.
The city has such an old soul, and even with all of the modenization happening, you can still feel it everywhere. Cows roam freely here even in busy streets, eating garbage and slop buckets that people put out for them. The traffic is unpredictable, with bikes, bicycle rickshaws, and autorickshaws competing with pediatrians and cars for space on the road. Lanes are a much more fluid concept over here, with a typical two lane road turning into three or more real lanes. Honking is "compulsory", as my taxi driver told me - a friendly reminder that you are behind or next to someone. Nice houses sit next to falling down tenaments and piles of rubble.

I'm meeting 12 other people here, including my friend Gina, who is going to lead us on a three week spiritual tour in northen India. Most of the others are coming in from Seattle late tonight, but I met up with the other early guy, Thomas, and we did a little sightseeing. New Delhi has a new Metro which made getting around pretty painless for us. I think things would have been much more difficult before.

We went to see the Red Fort, which is an old 1600s Moghul palace in Old Delhi. The trip there, including walking down a crammed, busy main street, was as interesting as the fort. The slices of life here are amazing - the sheer mass of people and storefronts (some no bigger than cubbyholes): sari shops, shoe repair, flowers, street food, welding, auto parts, just about everything. Hard to describe how vibrant and intense the scene was. This was on the main road to a major tourist attraction and it felt totally authentic and focused on Indians.

We discovered a famous food stand on the way that made Bhalla, a spicy bread covered in sweet yogurt and tamerind sauce. The strong spice and sweet created a combination of flavors I've never encountered before - delicious! And our hotel makes surprisingly good dinners for about $6 - dangerous when I love Indian food so much...
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