Delhi: First Impressions

India. I've dreamed of this place for years. I thought I knew what to expect. Never in my wildest imagination did I expect this...

Strolling out of customs at Delhi International at 1 in the morning, I'm glad I called ahead to make hotel reservations and arrange a ride. I had spent the better part of Tuesday afternoon at my modest Bangkok hotel, the Thai Cozy House, trying to decode the cryptic cypher required to make an international phone call. The phone numbers in my guidebook were all out of date, so I had to switch between the internet and the phone in my attempts to line something up. I finally made it work, and a young, dark-complextion Indian fellow was waiting for me among the dozens of other taxi touts and arranged-rides, holding a sign that said "Mr. Hugh." He leads me to a rickity van and drives me toward the city center with the windows down.

Delhi at 1 in the morning looks like it has been crop-dusted with nerve gas. Bodies lie all over the sidewalks, in every available patch of grass, slumped over rickshaws, propped between parked cars, contorted at unnatural angles. This, of course, is Delhi's enormous, impoverished homeless population asleep for the night. They're everywhere.

When the driver drops me off at the Delhi Star Palace hotel on the Main Bazaar rode in Paranganj (the neighboorhood, which I'm sure I've just misspelled, just west of the New Delhi train station), I'm again grateful I made a reservation. The street is littered with garbage and eerily deserted. Dealing with the reservation difficulties in Bangkok I had been tempted to simply take a cab to the traveler-heavy neighborhood and walk into a place at random. It would have been a bad move, I suspect.

I'm shown to my room: a double bed with sheets but no blanket, a sorry excuse for a window air-conditioner, a showerhead over the drain in the bathroom floor, and a bucket for hot water, which must be ordered from the front desk for 10 rupees.

I have trouble sleeping and wake up at about 6:30 Wednesday morning, eager for nothing more than to spend a day strolling around this fabled city.

I thought Bangkok would prepare me for what I was getting into. I was wrong.

This is the third world.

I expected garbage, but this? I expected pollution, but this? I expected wild color and frenetic activity. I expected persistent, offensive smells. I expected people squatting to shit in the street. I expected noise and heat. I expected burping auto-rickshaws. I expected touts. I expected traffic. I expected to be enticed by street food. I expected to meet friendly locals. I expected the wild Hindu cows that back up traffic and shit in the streets, but never, ever did I expect the madness of this city.

It's unlike anything I've ever seen. After three hours outdoors I have to rest for an hour in my small, dirty hotel room - just to cool off and take a break from the merciless sensory blitzkrieg.

I've done pretty much nothing today except walk and marvel and rest.

Stay tuned, more to come...