India Begins

After a quick but terrific week in annapolis, it was time to embark on the second half of my adventure. On the flight over to london I stayed up most of the time reading and watching movies and TV. Virgin is an awesome airline. They treat coach like first class with less leg room. I even got some free cabernet! Unfortunately this meant that I arrived in london very tired. But, I had 15 hours to kill so I took the tube into the inner city and explored a bit. I was a bit disapointed that the parliament building was closed for the day but I went and saw westminster abbey instead. Afterwards it started to rain, so I decided to escape to the british museum before grabbing dinner and heading back to the airport. For the flight into delhi, I made sure not to turn on the TV and I slept the whole way.
My first impression of india was awe at how modern it seemed. The airport express into downtown was propabaly the nicest I've ever seen. The metro system is also pretty extensive and nice, although very overcrowded. Sometimes we have to wait 2 or 3 trains before enough space emerges to squeeze on. I had heard that india was very difficult to navigate, so I was pleasantly surprised. That being said, there are no street signs, and without a quality map, it took me about 3 hours to find my hostel where I met my friends Robson and Korey. Actually, a nice young kid who was trying to scam me into going into a knock-off hostel eventually gave up on me and told me where the real one was.
Delhi is intense and chaotic on all senses. There are so many people doing so many different things all at the same time and in close proximity. It also takes about an hour to walk a relatively short distance because of the congestion. And, at the end of the day you can see all the city grime on your skin. Because of all of this, we had to take things slow. We spent most of the day at rooftop restaurants and bars and ventured out to see a tomb that was the precursor to the taj mahal. The second day followed with more rooftop cafes and a trip to the red fort. We then caught a bus into the himalayan city of Malalli. After an exhausting 15 hours of jostling and bouncing we were greated with amazing moutain views, a quaint and relaxing town, and nice cool temperatures. More to come on the town in the next update. For now, check out Robson and koreys blog for cool pictures and stories at www.happinesssisonlyrealwhenshared.wordpress.com