We reached the New Delhi airport at like 1pm on Sunday Jan 21 after a 7 hour flight from Taiwan. As soon as I got outside the airport I was like HOLY CRAP I missed India! So happy to be back here! Vishu was coming to pick us up at the airport, so we looked around for him and walked around.. But of course we can’t use our phones so we weren’t really sure where we were meeting him haha, but luckily a guy who was asking us if we needed a cab let us use his phone to call and figure that all out. It was funny because later Vishu told us that guy had said “Your clients are looking for you” lol The New Delhi airport has some weird system to get on their wifi you have to have a code texted to your phone, but of course anyone without a working India SIM card can’t do it. Vishu picked us up and we went out for some food and a beer and then he dropped us off at our hostel.
This hostel is totally one of the best hostels I’ve stayed in. They have a really nice rooftop area to hangout, and really good showers!! With hot water!!! OMG AND good WIFI! What more can a person ask for! I’ve learned to appreciate these things as they can be hard to find here… We were exhausted by this point so pretty much went right to sleep.
There is a guy who sells chai literally right outside the door of the hostel, so that is really awesome, and I also found a good samosa place just down the street, I’ve become such a regular there that I just show up and they pass me 2 samosas and chutney lol. The samosas are 10 rupees, so 20 cents each, so I can have a meal for 40 cents.
My fave samosa place:
Over the next few days we did a lot of just walking around, adventuring and joined a free walking tour of Old Delhi, unfortunately though most of Old Delhi was closed because they’re was some kind of protest, so we will have to go back when everything is back to normal.
We went to see Akshardham, this place was SO COOL, but they don’t let you take photos. In fact the security is so strict there that when you are entering they look in your car even in the trunk and under the hood, you can’t even bring in your phone or camera, and you have to go through a metal detector and have a pat down before they will let you in.
There’s actually that kind of security in a lot of places, before you can go to the metro or into a train station, or any kind of mall or bar same thing.
The next day I went back to Akshardham with Corr and some people from the hostel to see the night light show that they do. We also went to Lodhi Gardens, a 90 acre park in the middle of Delhi with all kinds of different plants and ancient buildings, it was really beautiful.
We’ve pretty much been living on street food this whole time, plus the hostel has free breakfast. We’ve probably spent an average of about 3 dollars a day for food.
Our train to Varanasi leaves on the night of the 29th and we will reach Varanasi the next morning.
The protest in Dehli was in the news here. Sexual assault going unpunished in India. The catayst for this round of protests was the recent rape of an Eight MONTH old baby girl. So sad.
This protest was not for that, it was because of the government saying that vendors couldn’t set up in the street there, so they closed everything in protest of that rule.
Hi Amanda, I am enjoying reading every word of your story. Your pictures are wonderful, too. I love the one of the cow sleeping in the middle of the street! So many dogs and puppies, too. Are they people’s pets?
Indian food is so flavourful, having it every day must be a treat. I admire you so much.
Love, Auntie Linda