After a wonderful short visit for Christmas and New Years with my friends in San Francisco I started my trip to India on January 1st. I have to admit that I had a hard time leaving again. It was just too nice to be back home, although a little strange after being gone for such a long time. My friends did an amazing job welcoming me back home. Especially the surprise birthday party organized by Stefan and hosted in my old apartment by my friend and house sitter / renter Gerry was awesome. Thank you all for that!!!
After recovering from a wonderful New Years Eve party at Georg's a 12 hour flight brought me to Munich and after a short 1 1/2 hour layover I continued to New Dehli. We arrived at 7:30 am and after a very quick process through immigration and customs I got a pre-paid taxi to my hotel. The drive was quite interesting, many new impressions .... crazy traffice, holy cows on the street, veiled women in colorful clothing, but also lots of poverty. It was quite foggy and freezing cold ... well, so much about shorts, T-shirt and flip-flops all the time. My cab driver had a hard time finding the place, but finally we arrived and I checked into my room.
Once I had settled in I had my first Chai and met one of my travel group mates, Chris from Switzerland. We decided to venture out and explore the neighborhood of our hotel. Just two blocks away is one of the biggest market areas for clothing of New Dehli (well actually old Dehli) and we immersed immediately into a cacophony of noises and smells and new impressions. It is hard to put in words how it felt simply because it is so different. People trying to sell you things you have never expected to find here maps anyone? Or how about a big leather whip? Tuk-Tuk drivers following you for two blocks or more just trying to talk you into a tourist tour around the city, beggars hanging on to you trying to get some money ..... it was almost too overwhelming. Nevertheless it is very exciting and a great experience. We will see what will happen during the next days. We will spend one more day in Dehli before we begin our tour of Rajastan. Stay tuned for more.
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