India--Avidan

My first post from India.

India is a hard place to travel. This is what I have been told by countless people. It is certainly true. What I wasn't expecting was how overwhelmed I would be with it. There is one thing to read about it and a very different thing to feel it. Poverty and beggars are painful to experience in such tight places and in such force. Sidewalks are not for pedestrians but for beggars, food stands, and people to sleep. This means you have to walk on the street and almost get hit by the multiple different modes of transportation from foot rickshaw, to bike rickshaw, to auto rickshaw, to plain ol' boring taxis. All of which try to get as close to use as possible. They also all have some kind of horn which they use with out mercy. It is a scary event walking through the cities. This is without all the people. Half the people are walking to where they have to go and the other half are trying to get your money. Taxi, food, souvenirs, clothes, or anything else. This is why it is so exhausting and demoralizing to be in an Indian city.

In Toronto airport, we were greeted with a man in handcuffs with a police escort. He was going to be on our flight. My mind immediately expected a ConAir, Air Force One kind of action sequence where I was the hero that saved the day. No such luck and we landed in Brussels and continued onto Delhi with no further incident. It was interesting to see the Indian/Pakistan border from the air. It was just a line of bright lights that went for miles.

We landed in Delhi ready for our trip. A small conflict in the airport with where to put our bags but we made it to our hotel and back the next day with no trouble.

The trouble came from walking the streets of Delhi near our hotel called Main Bezaar. Overload for your senses. The people of Main Bezaar, that is the store keepers, taxi drivers, and tourist offices, can easily smell fresh meat and they are merciless. Although they didn't get our money, they got our spirit. After a long walk to a tourist office that we had no desire to go in. we were beginning to dislike anyone that made conversation with us. It was a long day that did not leave either Randy or myself particularly like Delhi. The explanation mark was the bike rickshaw driver that wouldn't leave us alone. We wanted to go to a certain place but changed out minds. Unfortunately, you can not explain to these people that you don't want to go anymore. you can only talk about price. He followed us for a good 15 minutes with us changing directions multiple times and he doing the same despite having to turn his rickshaw on such a crowded street. You feel badly but just want to run. I feel you dislikes the city you land in.

Avidan