Delhi

We finally arrive in Delhi just before 6 in the morning, and for a big city airport, things are surprisingly quiet. This is always a good sign, as it usually translates to short lines at immigration, and by 6:45 we are already in a cab and on our way to the hotel.

At this time of day, it’s still dark outside, so we see little of what the city holds in store for us, but our plan is to spend just one day here, so even though we are running on little sleep, we more or less drop our bags off, eat some breakfast and head back out the door to wedge in a bit of sightseeing.

With the sun now up, the full weight of the city assaults our senses. It’s hard to describe, other than to say that somehow, Delhi manages to take the very worst of the big cities that we have been to and combines them into one exquisite package. The smog of Beijing, garbage of Cairo, beggars of Mexico City, and traffic of Athens, are all on display. It’s repulsive and engaging all at the same time, like the train wreck you just can’t look away from.

While the concierge has highlighted a number of things to see in the city, our limited schedule has us focused on just a few. The first is the Red Fort, which served as the seat of power for the Mughal empire in the 1850s. It’s 45 minutes away in noisy, congested traffic, or 20 minutes on the subway, so underground we go.

The subways in India reserve a few cars for women only (optional, not required), which combined with her unparalleled visual appeal, makes Ang quite popular with the local roosters, who stare like it’s a Victoria’s Secret photo shoot. Also joining us on the train is Booger, from the Bollywood version of Revenge of the Nerds, who, when not ogling my wife (and sometimes when he is), spends the entire trip deep drilling for treasure. If you’ve never experienced a grown man picking his nose with two hands at the same time, it really is a special treat.

The fort itself is interesting, but we’ve been spoiled by the scale of places like the Forbidden City which takes away some of the excitement. We have also read that a better example of this style of fort sits in Agra, so it’s a little like trying to get fired up about Canadian football when you know the NFL will be on the next day. The smog makes all of my pictures look depressing, so this one I clipped from the Internet.

The only other spot we have on our list is Connaught Place, which is more or less the city center, and supposedly a great place to find food and some shopping. We don’t really end up with either, and despite knowing better, fall once again for the Thai tuk-tuk scam. We do tempt fate with a few pieces of street food, but keep to the fairly safe, deep-fried food group for now.

By 5:30 we are back in hotel and pretty close to comatose. Crashing that early goes against all our instincts in trying to adjust to the time change, but our train to Agra leaves at 6 in the morning, so we rationalize the need to be up early for that and its lights out.