Day 2: New Delhi

Woke up at 2:40 AM and couldn't go back to sleep. Stupid jet lag!

One good thing about staying at a 5 star hotel is that we can always count on the quality of the breakfast buffet. And this one is no exception! Fresh squeezed juice and make to order omelette and dosa (a paper thin deep fried bread) were all excellent!

Our Driver and our guide met us promptly at 9 AM at the hotel. Both are really nice guys! Our guide speaks very good English. His knowledge of history, culture and location made our entire day very educational. Our driver is an excellent driver who knows how to navigate his way out of the crazy Indian traffic. We felt very safe while in his car.

Happy to report that the smog has significantly reduced today, we can actually see the blue sky. Although we are all experiencing some kind of respiratory problems. Especially when we were in the world famous spice market, once we walked in, everyone was coughing and sneezing. We had to turn back from an alley after only spent a few minutes there.

There are many people sleeping on the street in this city. The starch differences between rich and poor are very apparent. The saddest thing was to see young kids begging on the street. Two of them (a girl and a boy) were fighting in the middle of the street for some reason. The girl, in her messy hair and dirty clothes, was using one of her shoes to hit the boy, crying and shouting. The boy, who was a bit bigger, tried to defend himself by holding her arms. The people in the fancy car (maybe the kids were fighting about the money these people gave them) were laughing, sitting comfortably in their air conditioned car with windows closed. A sad scene we witnessed while stuck in a traffic jam on the other side of the street.

Delhi is big and crowded, dusty and dirty. Everything is covered by a thick layer of grey dust, including every leaf on the trees. Our guide told us that Delhi is the greenest city in India because there are many trees. Every tree is tagged and protected by the government. It's so nice to hear that, because this city needs all the fresh these trees can provide.

At the end of the day, my throat is dry and painful due to all the dust in the air and all of us are coughing.

Tomorrow, we are leaving this wonderful grand city, heading to Agra.Read more