Feeling like tourists for the first time in India - Part 1

Ironically, it was only this past weekend that I really felt like a tourist in India. Perhaps it was because Damon, Tom, and I were on our own in completely new cities, perhaps it was because we didn’t have any local Indian ThoughtWorkers with us, and probably because we were going to see THE most touristy attraction in India, the Taj Mahal (amongst other sites). We managed to get by inb Delhi and Agra on our four weeks of Bangalore experience, which mostly translated to having a basic grasp of Indian cuisine, haggling skills, and the head wobble.

Delhi

Early Friday morning, Damon and I grabbed a 2 hour flight to Delhi. Sam and Nolan were suppose to join us Friday night and Tom on Saturday morning. The plane ride consisted of me inhaling the airplane food and passing out.  We had booked rooms at the Ajanta Hotel in Paharganj, one of the most crowded areas of New Delhi. The hotel was nice enough to send us a free cab pick up for only 140 rupees. Damon and I settled in our room and then went to explore the surrounding area. 

We found a nice restaurant that had great cheap food, and below it was a bakery where I bought super cute pastries that tasted like sandlewood perfume. I'm still not sure how I feel about that.

Saturday morning, Tom managed to find his way to the hotel. By this time we had found out that Sam and Nolan had missed their flight and were not coming to Delhi at all. So Tom, Damon and I got a private cab and driver to drive us around Delhi and see all the major tourist attractions. I won’t go into details about them, but here are some pictures.

The best moment came when we saw the India gate. Daaaaaaaamn it was big.

Afterwards, we got dropped off at Caughnaught Place. We stumbled across an actual Mexican restaurant. (see that flag on my torta? Now that’s authentic!) 

Here, Tom and I got our drink on while Damon was just boring and ate food. If you’re reading this Damon, I’m just kidding, you’re only boring sometimes. Eating food is not boring. ;) The DJ there played some mean 80’s music (Sweet Dreams) and we took half shots of spicy tequila with the waiters. Now when I say spicy, I mean spicy that burns your throat and mouth for 10 minutes after the shot’s gone done.  However, this spicy was not as spicy as the vegetable side dish spicy that made me cry.

In my next post I will write about our trip to Agra and the Taj Mahal.