India - day 1

The first thing you see when you are about to land in New Delhi is the smog... almost all the smog in the world. It doesn't matter whether it's day or night, there is always something in the air. The English didn't bring only a flag with themselves when they came to India...
When you get down from the plane, the smell of "something burned" makes you think that you cross an area where somebody set something on fire and you start to think that the smell will disappear after you get away from the airport, but it doesn't, it just changes flavour. A relatively good thing is that 80%(or something)of the human population have their sinuses deviated (partially deviated), because sometimes when you're insensible is not a bad thing after all. It's for your own protection.
The Indira Ghandi Airport is very modern one, with carpets on the floor (the first airport where I didn't hear the rollin' of the trollers' wheels when I got down) and where everything seems to be shiny and new. If you land here, be sure to keep the ticket for the cabin baggage, because they verify who takes what.
A new thing (interesting in my opinion) is the fact that the fare for the taxis is fixed and payed before you get in the car. There is a small office where you tell somebody where do you want to go, how many persons/luggages, and they give you a receipt that you show to your assignated driver. It kinda cuts down from the traditional bargaining system, but it also cuts down the overprices for the ones who don't have too much information in that area...
The funny thing, after I threw away my luggage in the trunk, is that I went to the right side of the car to get in, but there you find the driving wheel... I forgot about the "look right" detail and I still have problems adapting to that.
The road from the airport is as smooth as a baby's butt (except 2 or 3 speed-bumps) and has 3 or four lanes on each side. We were going in a 60's car on a very modern road, an interesting site to see. Of course, the car had its own personal smell and the driver understood English in a more Italian fashion (with some mimic help), but at least we knew where we wanted to go.
We jumped 2 or 3 red lights at 4 o'clock in the mornin', but I must admit that the driver was slowing down in the intersection. The speedometer wasn't working, but I say that we were about 30-40 km/h then (the normal speed in day-traffic, where there aren't also too many rules). Almost every car except the very new ones has at least a scratch on it (if not different parts replaced with some from other type of cars). That's their style and you have to adapt to it, so don't worry, the driver knows what he's doing, but look for a good grip around you for anything unexpected.
We arrived at about 5 o'clock (India time) at Paharganje, the neighbourhood where our guest house was situated, but the taxi driver didn't drop us close because even he didn't know the area that well.
I don't know how to describe it, but it's a combination between garbage, old shanty buildings and creepy crawlers... Somewhere in that maze we eventually found our guest-house and we tried to get some sleep, but we decided that we will move in the morning with our friends from the airplane (Marius and Mihaela) in Manju Ka Tilla, the Tibetan refugee camp. There was to much "colour" in the picture and we decided to change the scenery.
At 11 o'clock we got down and payed our short stay there, had a nice talk with the owner of the guesthouse who even helped us to get in touch with our friends (on the other side of the city) and after that we went by foot to look for a taxi. We found one in the main road and we payed 250 Rupees (about 5 dollars) for the Paharganje - Manju Ka Tilla transfer. I bargained, of course, from 350 to 250... An hour of driving is about 400 Rupees in New Delhi and we made about 30-40 minutes of day-traffic. Do not take the first price in India for granted.

We got to see more of the things we didn't see in the first morning hours and we had a taste of day-driving, where if you don't have a functional horn you don't exist.
Manju Ka Tilla is a smaller neighbourhood, a lot more peaceful and a little bit cleaner. The prices are 1 or 2 dollars extra, but I think it's worth it.
The bazaar from across the street is a "normal" one for someone who grew up in Bucharest in the 90s (when it was much more chaos than it is now), with people selling stuff on the ground, on tables in the street, but it has, I must addmit, its eccentricities... The butcher stays on the table with his bare feet on the cutting log, the fishes are gutted on the side of the street and the cooking, ironing, sowing and extracting rodies juice are done on the spot.

                                    

                                        

The thing is that you don't have to be extra-careful and cautious, you just have to blend in... If you smile, it's most likely you get a smile back and if you have a camera, many people will ask you to take their picture. It's a very nice way of saying hello to your visitors.
The internet cafes are ok, with good transfer rate, and an hour is 30 Rupees (about 0,6 dollars).
A good meal in Manju Ka Tilla is about 100-150 Rupees, depending on how much you order. We found a place (at Marius' suggestion) where the service is very good, we have table covers and I don't need to say anything more about the food... Cafe Tibet, on the main "strasse".

In the evening we decided to take a walk somewhere with the underground system from New Delhi and we used a rickshaw to get to the closest station. It was funny seeing 5 people + the driver in that vehicle and we got it all on tape, but I think we could have done even better - 6 + the driver (there was an extra space on the left side of the driver...that would have been a sight worth seeing).

Anyway, the tube system in Delhi is very modern and a ticket (for 8 stations, I don't know how many km) is 15 Rupees. Here you see a higher class than the one who uses the surface transportation, with better clothes and modern gadgets. It can be a little bit disturbing, given the differences, but that's the way in India...

We got to see at the surface India Gate, India's "Arc du Triumphe", after we walked on a 3 km long pedestrian bvd (used for military demonstrations and guarded with armed police). It was a good night walk all in all.

Tomorrow we want to go see the city center during day-time. We'll see how it goes...