Arrived in India!

Well, I have finally arrived in India.  The airport was much more orderly than I had ever anticipated. It was clean and modern and everything went so smoothly. I found the driver who was to meet me there and bring me to the hotel. It was fabulous.

Then we started on the highway! OMG! The driving was just unbelievable. We were driving between lanes around lanes, through lanes, tried to get in front of the driver in front of us while making sure that the driver behind us does and get in front of us. All the while, Honking the horn as was everybody.It was an hours drive to the hotel and it was really something. I asked the driver if they were a lot of accidents and he said absolutely not. However, every car I saw I had dents or scrapes. Also on the road were buses, people on bicycles, scooters, trucks, and people pushing carts. Everything had to be driven around. They were even a couple of cards being pulled by cows. It was an experience. 
 When I finally reach the hotel, it was in the middle of a bustling economic neighborhood. It was a lot of home repair glass, and fixtures for home. One thing I noticed that even walking on the streets driving through there were very few women on the street. I also saw a great deal of harassment when a woman did walk by. I suspect the things we read about India and women are very true.

Once checking in, I got an opportunity to walk around the neighborhood. It was pretty interesting. I got lots of stairs because they think they weren’t used to having that many tourists in the neighborhood although they are a lot of hotels around. I was looking for a restaurant but there really wasn’t one around at least not one that I would eat in . I did find a 7-Eleven type store and I got a few things for my room. The sights, the sounds,And the smells were all very distinctive. I did see a few  beggars and they were really tragic. This is going to be a very interesting week.
I’m pretty tired as I get up at 4 o’clock this morning. I had dinner on the rooftop at the hotel. It’s really neat to be able to look down and see all the chaos.The food was delicious and I hope it does not give me the proverbial “Delhi belly”.If it does that will be part of tomorrow’s blog.

Below are a few pictures that I took today as we were driving to the hotel and walking around the neighborhood. I’m sure I’ll have much more tomorrow. Good night!










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