[Day 2] Arrival in New Delhi

When the plane touched ground in New Delhi, I thought that what I saw through the windows was the worst smog pollution ever. On second glance, it turned out to be raining.

Akanksha, who picked me up from the airport with her husband, told me this had been going on for a few days. The perfect setting to get introduced to the Indian driving style! Our taxi driver zipped in and out of traffic, created new driving lanes all for himself (not necessarily on the correct side of the highway), and more than once evaded a collision by not more than 2 cm. This was all made worse by traffic jams due to water logged roads. If you’re faint hearted, then a ride like this will definitely get your blood flowing :).

If there's no lane for your vehicle, just create one. Driving at its finest :).

At Akanksha’s family’s place, I got a nice traditional breakfast and a much appreciated two hours of rest for my jetlag. When I woke, the sky had cleared up and we decided to go visit the nearby Qutb Minar. There I was introduced to the Indian method of entry fees. While Indians have to pay 10 rupee, foreigners have to part with 250 rupee. Still, it’s hard to complain, since this is only about 4 euros.

The Qutb Minar is a very nice 100+ meter tower with carved reliefs on it. Unfortunately, entry to the tower itself has been prohibited since a few years, so we couldn’t go up to check out he view. On the same site, there’s a few other things worth seeing, most of them nicely carved buildings.

Akanksha and me with Qutb Minar in the background.

Some of the intricate carving at the Qutb Minar site.

Afterwards, we took the metro to my hotel in Pahar Ganj, where Sunny, one of the hotel’s owners, picked me up. In the evening, Sunny helped me out with some practical affairs (e.g. getting a SIM card) and then we got a very nice dinner. For now, I’m planning to stick to the (abundance of) vegetarian meals, since eating meat could apparently be quite risky.

One last thing for those at home worrying about my health: there’s some tiny worms crawling around on the bathroom floor of the hotel. I guess I better get some sandals before taking a shower there ;).

And with that, I lay my weary head to rest (in my permethrine-soaked sleeping bag liner). Time to fight off that jetlag!