Nothing really can prepare you for the friendly chaos that meets you at the airport. The first comical event was the lights going out in the immigration. Nobody made much of a fuss; was this normal?
We went to our host's house, had a quick shower but heading to the madness of the Old Delhi. We order an old ambassador car to take us there and it's fair to say that any self respecting Italian would be proud of much the locals use their horn.
Old Delhi
This is where the true mayhem ensued.
I needed a haircut and what better way than to start off with a local trim. The 'stylist' seemed affronted when I asked him to shave my head. No, that simply wouldn't do. He thought a nice side parting - seems to be the haircut of choice here - would suit me well. In the end I had about 6 haircuts as after each trim I asked him to go shorter.
Face massage. Has anyone ever met a hairdresser who doubles as a masseur? No, well come to India - they all do. Having refused the head and face massage about 10 times, he went ahead anyway and in the main it was very enjoyable although at one point another hairdresser told him to be a bit gentler.
Lunch
Street food - very tastey although everyone had been telling me how different Indian food would be in India compared to what we get back home. Well, it tasted pretty similar to me and it's had the same morning after effect too!
Well we tried a bit of the street food and opted for an aloo - potato - dish with spicy sauce. Absolutely delicious. After a failed attempt to go to the Mosque we had lunch in the renowned Karim's restaurant. Three different types of kebab, chicken korahi, rice, nan and sag aloo; all for the princely sum of 500 rupees (6 quid).
We didn't see much street cricket but rest assured that's the plan for today. The thought of being humiliated at cricket by a 5 year old hasn't put me off yet.
To round off an already strange day, we went to a welcome home party in the evening. I've no doubt that Sanjit was glad to have 3 total strangers from abroad welcoming him back to India!
We went to our host's house, had a quick shower but heading to the madness of the Old Delhi. We order an old ambassador car to take us there and it's fair to say that any self respecting Italian would be proud of much the locals use their horn.
Old Delhi
This is where the true mayhem ensued.
I needed a haircut and what better way than to start off with a local trim. The 'stylist' seemed affronted when I asked him to shave my head. No, that simply wouldn't do. He thought a nice side parting - seems to be the haircut of choice here - would suit me well. In the end I had about 6 haircuts as after each trim I asked him to go shorter.Face massage. Has anyone ever met a hairdresser who doubles as a masseur? No, well come to India - they all do. Having refused the head and face massage about 10 times, he went ahead anyway and in the main it was very enjoyable although at one point another hairdresser told him to be a bit gentler.
Lunch
Street food - very tastey although everyone had been telling me how different Indian food would be in India compared to what we get back home. Well, it tasted pretty similar to me and it's had the same morning after effect too!
Well we tried a bit of the street food and opted for an aloo - potato - dish with spicy sauce. Absolutely delicious. After a failed attempt to go to the Mosque we had lunch in the renowned Karim's restaurant. Three different types of kebab, chicken korahi, rice, nan and sag aloo; all for the princely sum of 500 rupees (6 quid).
We didn't see much street cricket but rest assured that's the plan for today. The thought of being humiliated at cricket by a 5 year old hasn't put me off yet.
To round off an already strange day, we went to a welcome home party in the evening. I've no doubt that Sanjit was glad to have 3 total strangers from abroad welcoming him back to India!
3 comments:
DAN DJ
At this point I think it's probabaly easier for me to make comment on this blog than to edit and write my own comments so here goes.
I'll just add in a few extra things that spring to mind from day 1:
* The Barber Shop - pure comedy. Whilst Hugo was getting the haircut , Ben and I were being entertained by the employees. Let's just say that there was lots of broken English, Cricket names were dropped in (although I didn't understand all the names), a local left behind 10 rupees for us,the tourists so we could sample a local Indian tea, Chai (probably his monthly salary , so very generous indeed) and not forgetting the FEAR in Hugo's eyes when his "hair stylist" produced a strange gel for his head massage
*Chandi Chowk - now here's a place where you need to have your wits about you. Is it a goat , is it a rickshaw , is it a tuk-tuk....you see where I'm going with this...nope , it's chaos..but friendly chaos , until you step on a shop owners front with a dirty pair of flip flops (ooopppss...I got a strange look). A maze of a market that has everything - books, clothes, food, even spare parts for your scooter (if thats what you need) - business and life is bustling in this place and it's people are energetic to say the least. What a fantastic experience - looks like we'll be going back for round 2 later this afternoon
Welcome to India!!
boys your loyal followers in the digital world require more posts (ddj you are fu@cking lazy..at this tim we need to see the real india, glad you are having a cool time sounds awesome. Whinzy
6 quid is more than you usually pay in clapham where you always "seem to have lost your wallet". I am glad however that you found it in time to buy plane tickets to India....
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