India (New Delhi)

    One of my friends told me that you imagine India being dirty, but in reality it is 100 times worse. She was spot on.
    The streets of New Delhi are not only packed wtih people, dogs, cars, tuk tuks and rickshaws, but everywhere you turn there is trash covering the streets. Even the parks, where families picnic and kids play cricket (the most popular sport in India), are covered in trash. But besides the smell and the thick smog lingering above the skyline New Delhi is a beautiful city. Our favorite thing so far has been to people watch. There are so many different sounds and smells that fill your senses as you walk down the streets. Cars are constantly honking and street food is being cooked around every corner.
    Our first, and only day in Delhi was jam packed with things to do. Our hostel owner informed us that we had arrived during a nine day festival called Devi Festival (No Vitara). People were celebrating all over the city and it was a holiday (vacation) for everyone.
    When he found out that we had literally packed our bags and arrived in India with no plans or trains booked he became very worried. He told us that because of the festival people were traveling all around India and it could take weeks to get a train. He explained, "In India people are not organized, but very organized at the same time."
    He also said that the next morning we had to go to the International Tourist Center to talk to a travel agent and book our trains. We were a little surprised beacuse we had figured that we would plan as we go. Now we were being told that we had to plan everything in advance.
    The next day we met with Lucky for some chai tea (which is delicious here!) and he introduced us to our personal driver for the day. We were confused and didn't want to spend money on a driver, but he assured us that it was on the house. We were skeptical, but decided to go with it.
    The driver brought us to breakfast first, where we enjoyed some traditional dishes of paper dal (which is an incredibly thin and HUGE fried pancake filled with curried potatoes and vegetables and served with various dipping sauces) and another sort of spicy pancake (thicker, more like a pancake you can get in the States) with an abundance of different spices on top. We were very excited to get such a filling meal for only 1 dollar each!
    From there he brought us to the Tourist Center where he patiently waited outside while we met with a travel agent. We were still confused and skeptical about why the hostel was doing this for us, especially for free. I assumed that we would be charged later for everything.
It turns out, going to the tourist agency was the best decision of our lives! We told the man all the places we wanted to see and things we wanted to do and within ten mintues everything was planned and set into motion.
    Originally we decided to only tour the South, but we were convinced to check out a few things in the North. According to everyone we met the North was the most culturally rich part of India. We decided to check out Jaipur, aka the Pink City, and then head to Rathambour National Park to see tigers! From there we would head to Agra to check out the Taj Mahal. Not only would we get to see all this, but we would have a private driver the entire time! We then found out that many tourists hire a private car to get around. It is inexpensive and incredibly convienient. When we asked the travel agent if it would be easier to take cabs or tuk tuks (small three wheeled, open aired cabs that are very cheap) he replied, "Would you rather pay the same price to get somewhere with or without an argument?" With that we decided to get a private car. Two minutes later we were introduced to Sanjay, our new driver for the next week.
    Sanjay is from the countryside, about four hours from New Delhi. He works as a private driver and every couple of weeks drives all the way down to New Delhi to drive tourists from around the world to various places in Northern India for days or weeks at a time. He has informed us that he loves women and whiskey. He tells us that while he waits for us in the car park he talks with his other driver friends, enjoys, and looks at all the beautiful ladies.
    When we hopped into Sanjay's car he asked, "where would you like to go?" in somewhat broken English. We were completely clueless about any of the sights in Delhi so we told him to take us to all the good spots. We then proceeded to hit every tourist spot in the city including the Lotus Temple, a park dedicated to Gandhi, some gardens, Parliment and a few different tombs. All were very beautiful especially the gardens, but because of the holiday we had to suffer through the crowds and unbearable heat (while being jet lagged). At each spot Sanjay dropped us off and waited in the car park with all the other tourist vehicles. When we returned we hopped in the car (with AC) and headed to our next spot. So far, so good!