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Jeff's Travel Home Page Indian Trip

Arrival in New Delhi, India Aug 2, 2008

I arrived in New Delhi early on Saturday morning and was glad to have the driver I had hired to take me to my hotel waiting for me. He was first in line at the rail after I cleared customs and immigration. The New Delhi airport looked fine until I got outside. None of the ATMs were working, and the street was a rutted dirt road. But after that it was smooth sailing. Before I left the US I had been unsuccessful at reaching my hotel by email or phone, so I was a little concerned that it might have closed its doors. My taxi successfully made it to the Pahar Ganj neighborhood of New Delhi. It was a little scary looking, a little slummy, and we had to ask directions a few times to find the right street. I don't think most streets have signs on them, because asking for directions has been a repeated necessity. But then after a few minutes we pulled up in front of the Hotel Grand Godwin. They were nice enough to let me check in at 6 a.m instead of the regular noon. I spent the next two days getting oriented, doing some sightseeing, and taking a yoga class. The yoga class trip was an ordeal. I got to a distant section of New Delhi called Hans Kaus, but realized that I didn't have the address of the studio, only a name and phone number. Another round of asking for directions ensued. After awhile a man on the street called the studio on his cell phone for me. Their directions weren't much help: D-43 near the market. But eventually we found the unmarked studio, which was in the teacher's home. It was a lovely class and made me think I had learned yoga pretty well. And very cool to be doing in in Yoga's country of origin. Since I checked in early on Saturday, I had to check out at 6 a.m. on Monday. I took a motorized rickshaw or tuk tuk from my hotel to the Karol Marg section of the city to check into our group's hotel. Again we needed help to find the Hotel Pablas International. Although it's address was on Saraswati Marg it was just around the corner on a side street. The manager struggled with the concept that I didn't have any documentation of a reserved room, because it was arranged by GAP Travel. But then he let me go into the room early anyway.

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