So as you might guess we had a little bit of a problem adjusting at first, although perhaps part of our problem could be attributed to the fact that we opted to (or perhaps our budget necessitated that we must) stay in the backpacker ghetto of Pahar Ganj. While many backpacker ghettos (such as Pham Ngu Lao and Khao San Road) are merely full of too many westerners and too many pizza and DVD shops, Pahar Ganj is serious about being a seedy ghetto. The streets are covered with rubbish and dirt, jammed with rickshaws and overflowing with touts. We had to really ready ourselves for the full-on sensery assault each time we decided to leave our room, even getting past reception in our guesthouse without being sold something was difficult. The Indian touts are without doubt the most persistant and annoying we've ever encountered!!
The chaos of Pahar Ganj
Our acclimatisation wasn't helped by our deciding to take a cycle rickshaw from our guesthouse along the bazaar lined Chandi Chowk as our first Delhi outing, straight off the flight. We should have maintained our predujice against cycle rickshaws we developed in Saigon and gone with the powered variety, however as stated above we were naive. Anyways, our little rip-off merchant decided to pretend to mis-hear us and take us to the middle of no-where Lahori Gate Road, rather than the Lahore Gate of the Red Fort and then kick up a big stink attracting a massive crowd of on lookers when we refused to pay. Fortunately, we managed to jump on another rickshaw and made a quick enough get away after only paying half of what he wanted (as he had only gone half the distance he was supposed to).
Even without our friend's shenanigans, Chandi Chowk would have been a pretty intense introduction as the streets are absolutley jammed packed with people, produce and rickshaws. Our rickshaw became entangled in two others necessitating us getting off so they could be pulled apart. However, you really have to admire the skill of the drivers as he negotiated most of the way without any major collisions missing things by about 10mm for the whole way. At least it was going to be all down hill from here :)
They start them young!
Our first respite from the chaos of Delhi came in the form of Hanuman's Tomb, a Taj Mahal-esque building also built by the Mughals during their occupation. The tomb is located in quiet, spacious, grassy gardens and is a really nice place to wander around for a while and generally relax. The first sight of the Tomb building when you first enter the complex is pretty awe inspiring and to think that this building is only considered a precurser to the Taj Mahal when the Mughals really had their tomb building act in order!
Hanuman's Tomb
Connaught Place is supposedly the centre of town, but it looks very much like everywhere else, definitely much less developed than we had expected. The rubbish is still there, the traffic is unabated and the touts are as persistant as ever. Though there are some nice shops and much to our delight there are EXCELLENT bookshops, which doesn't sound that exciting, but after seeing very few English language books in the past 3 months it really was!
We had gone down to Connaught Place to try and find something to do for New Years Eve, however we failed to find anything much happening and resigned oursleves to a very quite one by oursleves. Heading up to the rooftop of our guesthouse (where the staff had the Punjabi MC blaring) and finding one other couple there we thought our expectations had been confirmed. However, it turns out the night was very interesting if not overly exciting...
An intersection of Main Bazar, Pahar Ganj
It started with the all-male staff of our guesthouse (who obviously don't drink much) getting extremely rowdy a bit too early, playing some very loud music and dancing rather intimately together. This was all happiness until something happened and it turned to fighting, which in turn turned to a rolling mass of pushing and shoving men tumbing down the stairs as the instigator was ejected. Then some Aussies turned up with a big box of fireworks they had picked up at some market around town and which were to be set off from the rooftop at midnight. Turns out there were some pretty nice people there and a few beers were had, some fireworks set off (without loss of hands or fingers) and 2006 was brought in with a bit of a bang.
Unfortunately, it turns out that Indian beer isn't the best and Hobbes had a massive headache off not too many beers the following day. Apparently it is full of glycerine which is used as a preservative, and is the only thing that softens the blow of beers hardly being available anywhere and that when it is it costs as much as TWO peoples meals for a longie. No beer make Hobbes go crazy!!
All your Bollywood favourites
Even though you expect to encounter cows in India, seeing them absolutely everywhere is still a surprise. And they really are absolutely everywhere, as soon as you step out of the airport you see them, and standing on the street anywhere you have to be ready for the gentle nudge as yet another pushes past. They do add a sense of calm though, wandering amid the traffic chaos without a care in the world, turning their head at just the last minute as yet another auto-rickshaw flies past. Although you do have to wonder about the heathiness of their chosen lifestyle, rubbish for breakfast lunch and dinner, a pile of filth for a bed and always with the chance of being run over.
Prayer rugs at Jama Masjid
Other sight seeing in Delhi included Jama Masjid which is the largest mosque in India and is set amongst a livestock market which really had the bird-flu feel about it (Hobbes is hoping his flu is of the spinach variety...). Also, inspired by the excursion of Hanuman's Tomb we decided to check out Safradjang's Tomb, another of the Mughal variety which while impressive isn't quite as nice as the former. Although, it was notable for the fact that the lawns were packed with Indian couples getting rather intimate, especially considering that there is generally little to no public displays of affection here.
Another surprising thing in India, having come from China anyways (where there are absolutely no animals in cities), was the amount of wildlife. In addition to the afore mentioned cows, there are chipmunks everywhere, eagles soaring overhead and the sickest looking dogs on the planet lurking on every corner.
A window at Safradjang's Tomb
In order to try and acclimatise to India and to escape the madness of Delhi we decided to head north to Rishikesh for some yoga and chilling out. After our train trip up to Haridwar we needed to take a bus further on to Rishikesh. It was at about this time that we felt for the first time that Chinese characters are easy to read, as the buses were all signposted in Hindi and had it not been for some helpful locals we would have had no chance working out where to go!
Rishikesh itse;f is just as hectic as Delhi, however when you head further up the river to the smaller settlements it is much more peaceful amid a very beautiful setting on the banks of the Ganges River. We stayed high on the upper bank overlooking the Ashrams of Laksman Jhula which we didn't quite feel up to taking on at this stage. Our hotel was just what we needed, such a refreshing change from Pahar Ganj, with a peaceful outdoor dining area and a balcony with superb views of the river and surrounding forests.
Bridge over the River Ganges (Rishikesh)
Even though we weren't going to take on the 10 days solo meditation demanded at some of the Ashrams, we had intended to get into a bit of yoga while in Rishikesh. However, soon after arriving Aimes succumbed to the cursed Delhi Belly and Hobbes became afflicted with the dreaded Spinach Flu, curtailing our efforts at one lesson with a dubious Yoga 'Master' (creaking bones and all). As a result most of our time was spent in the (fortunately peaceful) room with a couple of short excursions for the essentials of food and internet!
Overall we didn't like Rishikesh much, perhaps it was the fact that we were both sick, but more likely it was a lot to do with the fact that most of the people there are so focussed on achieving their spiritual enlightenment that they wont give you the time of day. In fact there were some of the rudest people we've ever encountered there (westerners that is), ask them a question and they'll look at you like you've got two heads (and these weren't the ones in the midst of a week long meditation). Fortunately this breed of travellers seem to be almost exclusively confined to Rishikesh, as we haven't met any others like them anywhere else...
Some of Haridwar's locals
In contrast to Rishikesh and despite being much more hectic, we both found Haridwar (the train station town an hour down the road) to be a much more appealing place to spend some time. Haridwar is a more significant pilgrimage town for Hindus and has the hectic busy streets more common to India. However the hecticness does not turn into the aggressive sales pitches of Rishikesh, so as long as you are ready to jump out of the way of any auto-rickshaws, cows or buses about to run you down you should be right!
Both still feeling a bit dodgy we decided to eat at Big Ben the poshest restaurant in town (costing a grand total of $2 per person). It was quite nice with full silver service, white table cloths, waiters opening doors for you, plus the added benefit of having the Venga Boys on high rotation and at maximum volume and distortion?
Selling bottles for collecting some of the Ganges' finest
The highlight of Haridwar was heading down to the bathing Ghats to watch the worshippers bathing in the evening. While not as many people come here as to Varanasi to bathe in the waters it provided a nice peaceful introduction. It is such a colourful time with women in bright saris, kids running around playing games people praying and collecting water for later. It will be interesting to see the same rituals in the same river some 800 km away (plus with an additional 1.5 million faecal coliforms per 100ml).
Next stop Agra and the Taj...
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