Welcome to India! I guess I should start off by saying that I am amazed at how different Nothern India is from my previous journey in Southern India in 2005. The vibe here is much more relaxed, I find the people friendlier and being in the mountians............man, how I missed living in the mountains, nothing like it.
I flew into India on July 20th, 2008 into Delhi. The plane ride from Hong Kong was excellent because I somehow got bumped up to first class for no apparent reason. It was a bunch of buisness men and a bearded backpacker with smelly clothes on taking full advantage of the non-stop champagne. So I caught a nice buzz and watched the Indian version of "Dancing with the Stars," which was nothing less than amazing. After being in Korea and Vietnam, I must say Indian music is pretty darn good.
Arriving in Delhi at 10:00p.m. at night is scary, if not at least daunting. As soon as you walked out of the airport, you are blasted with the Delhi humidity and swarmed by hawking taxi drivers. After traveling all day (albeit first class) and being buzzed on cheap champagne. It's easy to get overwhelmed and panicky. Luckily, I found a taxi at an overpriced rate but the driver was honest and excellent. I had a pre-arranged hotel just to make it easy for myself but when I got there......
This hotel was a shithole. Hotel BB Palace in Karal Bagh, just in case you ever visit their website, it's not what is advertised. Extremely overpriced, shitty beds, mosquitos, crappy Indian dramas all in Hindi was considered "cable". It was not the best start to India, or maybe it was. Things could only
get better. The next day, I got right out of Delhi on a 17 hour bus ride to Manali.Manali is beautiful and extremely relaxed. The feeling of breathing in fresh mountain air after a year in Korea and six months in Saigon was a welcomed relief. Great to pull out my fleece jacket and hang out in the coffee shops overlooking the Himalayas. Who would have thought that I would ever be here? But I made it and it feels great.
1 comment:
"Overlooking" the Himalayas? Don't you mean underlooking? Or were you drinking in a Zeppelin?
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