New Delhi- Chaos, cars, and cows

Delhi: We arrive at 3:30 AM, wait to collect our bags from baggage claim for over an hour, then clamor around to trying to find the driver that was supposed to be readily awaiting our arrival. No such success. Once we find the prepaid taxi outlet we discover that they drive on the other side of the road... Should have expected as much since India is a British colony. However, this doesn't really matter because they drive on either side of the road depending on where they need to go, traffic congestion (which can mean a number of things- oxen, bicycles, horses, personal cars, taxis, motos, auto-rickshaws, bicycle-rickshaws, pedestrians, etc. There is defiantly a hierarchy here depending on how big and how fast one's mode of transportation is.), and their general mood. We tell the driver that we will be staying at "Hotel Tara Palace". This means nothing to him because he had never heard of it. Thank god for Javin's brilliant memory because he remembered the street name in which "Tara Palace" is located. Once we came upon the street the driver asked a local for the hotel's location. The driver inched back a few feet to a dismal ally way in Old Delhi. "NO" I shout... "This cannot be it!". Javin decides to jump out of the taxi to scope things out. Keep in mind that it is still very dark and the ally way looks like a labyrinth into the great abyss. He does a couple double takes before he sprints into the darkness. All the while I am in the taxi literally gnawing off my fingernails. He reemerges with a nice looking young man who appears to be the bellhop. Javin explains that “Hotel Tara Palace” is in fact located down the dark ally.

When we get into the hotel the scent of incense is overpowering. It’s like going to a traditional Catholic mass but times ten. Javin and I decide that the hotel itself is okay to say the least but we later decide that it was wonderful (you will later learn why). There was hot water and an actual bed (by bed I mean an elevated coffee table with a 4 in. foam pad on top), a TV with a couple English stations, and they served a yummy complimentary breakfast. 

After we slept for a couple of hours we decided it is time to hit the town. First thing on our agenda: Red Fort or as the locals call it Lal Quila- its beautiful red walls are sprawling and take up two square km of space in the heart of Old Delhi as it once was the epicenter of the Mughal Empire.  After a good history lesson from Javin (he took a whole class on the Mughal Empire) we decided it was time for lunch and some shopping. This is when we discovered McDonaldsJ And it was an actually discovery because it is a totally different menu here than in the States. My favorite was the McAloo Tikki all for 25 Rupees which is about 50 cents. Potato and pea patty seasoned with curry and other such spices, curry mayo, tomatoes, and onions all on a nice soft bun. Now why can’t we have that back home?!    

Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India, was next on the list. When the rickshaw driver dropped us off at the  mouth of the street that led to the mosque there were thousands of people, animals, motos, fruit and meat carts, and basically anything you can think of swarming around us. We came to discover that it was a holy day in the Muslim world and there was a huge parade going on. Go figure… we thought it was like that every day. We then decided that we would just go back to the hotel since it was very close and ended up falling asleep around 6:30 PM Delhi time. This was no good because we woke up around 3:30 AM the next morning.

More to come soon. Miss you all so much!