First off, I apologize for my lack of posts but I have been more concerned with experiencing Delhi than I have been with writing about Delhi.

The adjustment to India has, thus far, been an easy one thanks in most part to our hosts, Umang and Shiwani whom we found through Couchsurfing.com. We are staying outside of Delhi in a suburb called Gorgaon, which has been referred to as India first upper-middle class neighborhood. In the past 10 years, the area has been developed from largely uninhabited country side and forest to housing communities, shopping malls and office buildings that host numerous US call centers. The area is spread out with lots of open road and the roads are crowded with cars, trucks, cyclists, and animals. As I read in many books before arriving, it is not unusual to find cows in the middle of the road. And while I have only encountered a cow in the middle of the road once, they are found along the side of the road along with a number of stray dogs, pigs, and the occasional donkey.

We are starting to slowly get the hang of the rules of the Indian road. People drive on the left hand side of the road and the main rule to live by is that the biggest car has the right of way. We had not rode our bikes until last night when Umang brought us around the colony and the surrounding area. As we were on small roads with no cars, it was a good way to acclimate ourselves to seeing the area by bicycle and to dealing with stray dogs. Our travel doctor warned us of rabies and since India is crowded with stray dogs, we have been worrying that cycling past dogs may cause them to chase after us. While we were still in the colony, we were confronted with our first two barking strays -- our first reaction was to try and out bike them but Umang slowed down, put out a friendly hand and the dogs immediately became our friends. They ended up running beside us the rest of the night and we acted as their pack, guarding them whenever we bicycled past empty lots guarded by other stray dogs.

Yesterday was the first day that I truely dealt with any type of culture shock. I visited Old Delhi with a new friend I made name Subhashani. We hired a private driver for the day, which cost less than $20 (!) and she showed me around Old Delhi. She was the perfect tour guide, as she is not only a fun free spirit to be around but she has a deep knowledge of Indian history, so she was able to explain everything that we saw. We visited Red Fort, which we reached by metro, since the area was too crowded to reach by car. The metro exit was lined with crippled beggars suffering from polio and the streets were narrow and crowded. It was a 10 minute walk from the metro to red fort. The streets were extremely crowded and narrow, so we spent our time dodging people. As we neared Red Fort itself, people began to hassle us again to buy their goods. This didn't let up until we entered the fort itself. There were two lines for tickets, one for Foreigners and one for Indians. The entry price for Indians was 50 Rupees, while the price for foreigners was 250 Rupees! While in the fort, I was happy to have a break from being constantly bombarded by beggars. That break did not last long -- while no one was pushing me to give them money or to buy their goods, I was not able to escape the constant stare of Indians who had either never or rarely seen a white person. I'd like to think that it's flattering to have people stare at you but it is really annoying after a couple hours of it happening. After getting a bite of street food to try and slowly adjust my stomach to Indian street cuisine, we made our way back to our driver.

The next stop was Lohdi Gardens, which was the perfect end to our crazy day. The gardens were a perfect break from Delhi. With trees, the sound of wild life, and fresh air, it is easy to forget that you are in a busy city. We walked around the gardens, visited some tombs and then set back to our car, which brought us home. All in all, another adventurous day in Delhi.

Stay posted for past and future adventures. As mentioned in my last post, i wrote a lot more on a different computer and shall have it posted shortly, i hope.

All the best,

Bon