Neon Delhi... and Agra...

After a lovely night in the Yotel London Heathrow, it was a mostly uneventful flight to Helsinki, and from there connecting to Delhi, where we flew over Russia and watched the sunset over the horizon of Afghanistan before landing late in Delhi. From the moment of stepping off the plane it was oppressively hot, and walking out of the AC airport was like opening an oven door, even at midnight. Got to the hotel okay, though it was much less pleasant than it appeared in the guidebook, oh well.

Up the next morning to see Delhi, every bit as overwhelming as expected. Constant haranguing by people to get in their auto-rickshaw (tuk-tuks), and the roads were terrifying to travel on by such a vehicle- the ride dodging peacocks, camels, cows, dogs, pigs, beggars, bicycles, bottomless potholes, open sewers, swerving around semitrucks and buses by inches, with the horn sounding the entire time. And visibility severely reduced by pollution and oppressive y that smogged up the air seemingly reducing visibility to a matter of feet. The smell is overwhelming- fumes of diesel mixed with burning garbage mixed with disinfectant. Another charming addition to the olfactory overwhelm is the novel addition of street urinals everywhere, just little walls that one can go behind literally built onto the sidewalk. (Though more effective than the "no orinar aqui" signs ubiquitously painted around latin america) Just getting down the street by foot is difficult, with the sheer volume of people making moving difficult, not to mention the heat and various nonhuman obstacles.

But Delhi was not all madness. The Red Fort was extremely impressive old fort in Old Delhi, and the place was crawling with monkeys who were carrying their adorable monkey babies, though we kept our distance having heard about various recent monkey attacks. Also visited the Jema Masjid, or old Mosque,- another impressive feat of mughal architecture made of soaring red stone and intricate carving.

But it was on pretty quickly by train to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. Train ride was decent, but somehow lacked the charm of the Darjeeling Limited- though the sweet lime drinks are quite delicious. Arrived in Agra only to find the Taj Mahal closed on Fridays, so visited the Agra Fort, a rambling half mile long fort along the river, from which there were very cool views of the Taj. We also had lovely views of the Taj from the hotel rooftop at "sunset" (or the hour when the smoggy air becomes even more pronouncedly yellow), while listening to the cry of the muezzins from the local mosques while local kids flew kites from rooftops. There are an enormous number of muslims here in spite of the partition fifty years ago, apparently if not for the partition India would have had the largest muslim population in the world. Its amazing what an incredibly diverse country this is, and that is seems to manage to work. Another surprise is the lack of Western tourists, even at the Taj, the Europeans and Japanese tourists made up less than 5% of the total tourists, who were almost exclusively Indian. And boy, people talked about how Indians have no problem staring- these people are practically leaning into the rickshaw to stare, literally taking pictures of us, and even asking if we would stand in their photos!

Everywhere there are stares, and everywhere there are metal detectors, half-assedly manned (or womanned) by the Indian Army- its the most security conscious country I've ever been to, from the constant inspections to the massive amounts of paperwork and ID needed for hotel check ins and even internet use.

The Taj itself was decidedly amazing, living up to expectations even in the rain. A little expensive, but they also give you little booties so you don't scratch the marble its made of. I don't know what more to say about these fairytale forts and places like the Taj Mahal- they are incredible, but words just cant really capture them. Go- its the only way to really get a sense of how insanely cool they are. Though I have the distinct feeling that fort fatigue may be setting in by the end of Rajasthan.

Thought the rain would have that cleansing effect, washing the streets of their grime and garbage, when in reality it seemed to only slightly break the oppression of the heat, but replace it with freshly re-hydrating all of the odors of cow and goat shit all over the streets, bringing it wafting up. It also seems to stop and then turn immediately into humid vapor again, oh well. The people are charming in the rain- the Sikhs fit shower caps neatly over their turbans, and everyone else has matching dark umbrellas hovering over their bright saris. And the women DO all where saris it seems, almost none where pants or Western clothes. Well, enough ramblings for now, tomorrow I write of Fatehpur and Jaipur, and the nation's most famous bollywood moviehouse.

By the way, street vendor of the trip award goes to the man insisting on selling me a ridiculous fake beard outside the red fort "Fake beard! Good for picture, good for picture! Only twenty rupees! Look very real!" And yes, he was proudly wearing one.

(I'll get these pictures fixed stat)