After two days in Tokyo, the world’s largest city we move on to The second largest city, New Delhi. This should be a shock after the quiet perfection of Japan.
Our jet weaved across China dodging huge cumulonimbus clouds. We must’ve crossed the Himalaya somewhere, buried in the clouds.Rainbows are never as vibrant in photos
After Kathmandu, Marta expected a crush of aggressive taxi, drivers and beggars at the New Delhi airport. Instead, we got ignored by all the greeters who were looking for someone else. We jumped in the first taxi and ten dollars later we were at our hotel.
We booked the cheapest hotel we could find in Mahipalpur village beside the airport. No toilet paper, no towels but has hot water. Reviewed at 1.2/10 stars. Pretty good, really. I’ve stayed in worse – looking at you, hostel in Xian. Every time you flushed the toilet at night, a cup of cold water would dump out of the ventilation system above you Look at this fancy street. We’re not staying here. A guy was trying to convince me to go get a massage. Who knows what the service really was but when Marta caught up and I told him that my wife wouldn’t appreciate that, he looked a little guilty.Our first meal in India was mind blowing cheap and delicious. For some reason, they charged us less than the prices on the menu.
Organized chaosFresh squeezed lime juice
We only spend a night in New Delhi, and then we’re back to the airport for a afternoon flight to Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir
New Delhi airport has a Timmie’s ?!As we drop into the Kashmir valley, the mountains start getting big. We aren’t on the right side of the plane to see the Himalaya, and they would have been buried in cloud anyway
During landing, it was obvious we aren’t in Kansas anymore. Military transport helicopters, old bunkers for jet fighters… hundreds of very alert Indian soldiers on the taxi ride into Srinagar.
As we exited the terminal, we were intercepted by a short, sturdy looking older man with good English. And easy as that, the Golden Goose (us) was captured.
Kashmir has a phenomenal potential for tourism, but the “troubles” scare tourists away. And we arrived off season for domestic tourists. There are hundreds of very helpful entrepreneurs trying to cater to your every need, and prevent anyone else from angling in. It’s hard to be annoyed by this, but we are the kind of travellers who would rather sleep under a bridge than a 5 star hotel.
We ended up in a four room suite on a houseboat. Feels like a prison, since we have to be paddled to shore. Our immediate need is for rupees and data, and a chaperone takes us into the city.
This cheese shop was about 1 square meter. While we got our SIM cards here, several heavily covered up Muslim women tried begging. I’m not sure if they are hard up, or this is just a nice supplement. We ditched our chaperone. Deep fried goodiesPistachio popsicleTrip to currency exchange. I didn’t think through what converting Benjamins into 500 rupee notes would entail. The exchange rate was very good, implying there are currency controls and this transaction was on the black market Interesting mix of construction techniques. The city feels old – historical Houseboat. There are hundreds of these on Dal lakeA small selection of houseboats. Most only accessible by water. The water is very clean, surprisingly. No one is leaking gasoline or engine oil into here. Probably gas engines are banned. Private dinner for us on the houseboat. Our “chaperones” watch us eat dinner, which feels creepy, but we later learn is cultural and normal.
The next morning is surreal. Waking up on a houseboat to Muslim prayers blaring over the city is incredibly exotic. And we feel trapped. We pack and give the bad news to our hosts. They try hard to find some ideas to pique our interest, but we want exploration and adventure. Which means heading out on our own.
Early morning Chai tea delivery. Always ask the price first…Even before we grab breakfast, a private car finds us and we are off to our next destination, the tiny village of Faqir Gujri, (above Dara) where we’ve found a high altitude home stay.
Marta and Chester's Maleficent Adventures 